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MEMOIR 



JOHN FANNING WJTSON, 

THE AXNALIST OF PHILADELPHIA AND XEW YORK. 



PREPARED BY REQUEST OF THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF PENNSYLVANIA, 
AND READ IN THEIR HALL, 



Monday Evening, February 11, 1861. 



BENJAMIN DORR, D. D. 

RECTOR OF CHRIST CHURCH, PHILADELPHIA. 



PHILADELPHIA: 

COLLINS, PRINTER, 705 JAYNE STREET. 

1B61. 



.5" 



Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1861, by 

JOHN H. WATSON, 

in the Office of the Clerk of the District Court of the United 
States in and for the Eastern District of the State of Penn- 
sylvania. 



HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF PENNSYLVANIA, 
Philadelphia, January 18, 1861. 

BEV. AND DEAR SIR: — 

At the late Stated Meeting of The Historical Society of 
Pennsylvania, held at their Hall on the 14th inst., due notice was 
taken o^ the decease of our late fellow member, the venerable John 
F. Watson, the Annalist of Philadelphia and New York. Appro- 
priate resolutions were adopted, and among these was the follow- 
ing, which I was directed to transmit to you. 

Resolved, That as a testimony of our estimation of Mr. Watson, 
and of his valuable contributions to our history, the Rev. Benja- 

' Dorr, D. D., be requested to prepare and read before this 
Society, a memoir of our late venerable fellow member. 

We hope that when ready you will inform the Society, and we 
shall then arrange an evening when the Memoir can be read at 
our Hall. 

Permit me, also, to add, that I have in my possession some let- 
ters of Mr. Watson, addressed to me in 1845, and also in later 
years. If you wish extracts from them, I will cheerfully make 
them, as they are of considerable interest. 

With high regard, 
I am. Dear Sir, 

Your obedient servant, 
HOEATIO GATES JONES, 

Cor. Sec. Hist. Soc. of Pa. 

To the Rev. B. DORR, D. D. 



HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF PENNSYLVANIA, 
Philadelphia, February 14, 1861. 

MY DEAR SIR: — 

I HAVE been directed to transmit to you the following reso- 
lution, adopted by the Historical Society of Pennsylvania on the 
11th inst., viz : — 

Resolved, That the thanks of this Society be tendered to the 
Rev. Dr. Dorr, for the interesting paper which he has read before 
us, entitled "Memoir of John Fanning Watson," and that he be 
requested to furnish a copy of the same for preservation in our 
archives. 

I have the honor to be. 

Your obedient servant, 

HORATIO G. JONES, 

Corresponding Secretary. 

To the Rev. B. DORR, D. D. 



TO 
THE CITIZENS OF PHILADELPHIA, 

FOR WHOSE PLEASURE AND INSTRUCTION 

THE SUBJECT OF THIS MEMOIE 

LABORED EARNESTLY AND SUCCESSFULLY MANY YEARS, 

AND WHOSE BOOK OF ANNALS 

IS AN ENDURING MONUMENT 
OF HIS UNTIRING INDUSTRY IN THEIR BEHALF, 



®Ijis ©olame 



[S AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED 

BY HIS FAMILY. 



MEMOIR 



MEMOIR 

READ IN THE HALL OF THE HISTOEICAL SOCIETY. 



Ladies and Gentlemen:— 

One year ago to-night, the second Monday in 
February, 1860, the Historical Society of Pennsyl- 
vania met in this place, to pay a just tribute of 
respect to one of their number, then recently de- 
ceased, the Hon. Henry D. Gilpin. A year has 
passed, and they come together again, to perform a 
like mournful duty towards another highly respected 
member, John Fanning Watson, Esq. 

I esteem it a great privilege to have known both 
these gentlemen, for several years, and to be able to 
number them among my friends. And I should do 
injustice to my feelings, did I let this favorable occa- 
sion pass, without saying a few words respecting the 
opportunities which I had of knowing the first named 
intimately, and of appreciating his many and great 
excellences. 

Mr. Gilpin and his accomplished lady were the 



10 A MEMOIR OF 

companions of myself and son, in our travels over 
much of the classic soil of Italy, and among the stu- 
pendous ruins of ancient Egypt. It was no light 
honor to have the companionship of a man of so 
refined a taste, and such scholarly attainments, in our 
visits at Rome and Naples, and the places around 
them, where every foot-step was on classic ground. 

On my asking him one day, how he, who had been 
so much engaged in a laborious profession, and so 
much in public life (he was at one time Attorney- 
General of the United States), had acquired so 
thorough and accurate knowledge of the old Greek 
and Roman authors. He replied, that he read some 
one of them daily ; and that he had done so for more 
than thirty years. 

We took passage together in a French steamer at 
Naples for Alexandria, stopping twelve days at Malta, 
and two weeks at Cairo ; visited those wonders of the 
world, the Pyramids and the Sphinx; climbed the 
great Pyramid of Cheops, and unfurled our American 
flag, with its full complement of stars and stripes, on 
the summit of the largest and oldest structure in the 
world. 

At Cairo we procured a boat, with a crew of 
twenty Arabs, to take us four (Mr. and Mrs. Gilpin, 
my son and myself) to upper Egypt and back. A 
Nile boat, where there are none to talk with but 



JOHN FANNING WATSON. 11 

your own little party, and where you may not, for 
weeks, see another human being who can speak a 
word of your language, except your dragoman, who 
is both guide and interpreter, is the place of all 
others for fellow-travellers to acquire a thorough 
knowledge of each other. We had an abundant 
supply of books and maps — probably a hundred 
volumes — through Mr. Gilpin's forethought; but we 
had not much occasion for these, except for reference. 

We took many delightful walks together on the 
banks of the Nile, while our boat was being slowly 
towed against the current. We visited the governor 
of the upper provinces, and some of the sheiks of the 
towns, with our commendatory letters from Cairo. 
We explored the tombs of the kings, the palace 
temples of Dendera, Luxor, and Karnak, and all the 
other colossal ruins of ancient Thebes. And when 
the labor of the day was over, and we returned to the 
boat with our minds filled with the wondrous things 
that we had seen, what a refreshment was it, to sit 
with him on the open deck, night after night, as the 
sun went down beneath a cloudless sky, in that deli- 
cious climate, and listen to his conversation, always 
interesting, always instructive. 

I think that voyage on the Nile, of thirty-two days, 
in our own boat, afforded me a better opportunity of 
knowing Mr. Gilpin than I could have had by an 



12 A MEMOIR OF 

ordinary intercourse with him in the city for as many 
years. And I can truly say, that I have never known 
a more polite gentleman, a more accomplished scholar, 
a more delightful companion, a more amiable, pure- 
minded, honorable man than he. His memory will 
ever be associated with the brightest year of my life, 
— the year in which I visited Egypt and the Holy 
Land, — for his companionship contributed to make 
that year so bright. 

I have thought that this humble tribute was due 
at the present time, to one who will ever be re- 
membered with gratitude as the Benefactor of the 
Historical Society of Pennsylvania; one who has 
bequeathed to it his noble library, — probably the 
largest and most valuable private collection of books 
in our country, — and, to this bequest, has added an- 
other, of nearly one-third of his large estate. 

But, what is more to our present purpose, if Mr. 
Gilpin is remembered as the great Benefactor of the 
Society, Mr. Watson will be regarded as its chief 
Founder. To his memoir I now respectfully ask your 
attention. 

John Fanning Watson, the well-known author of 
the " Annals of Philadelphia in the Olden Time," and 
of similar Annals of the City and State of New York, 
was born June 13, 1779, in Burhngton County, New 



JOHN FANNING WATSON. 13 

Jersey. Members of the family had formerly resided 
in Philadelphia. His father, William Watson, was 
born in Salem, New Jersey, and married there in 
December, 1772, to Lucy Fanning, whose family 
emigrated to New Jersey from Stonington, Connec- 
ticut. 

His ancestors, by both the father's and mother's 
side, were among the earliest settlers in the two 
States above named. 

His paternal ancestor, Thomas Watson, born in 
Dublin, but of English parentage, came to Salem, 
New Jersey, in 1667. He was a man of some emi- 
nence, and one of the pioneers of the country, as 
appears from his being one of four witnesses (the 
other three being Swedes and interpreters) to the 
original Indian treaty for lands from Salem to Timber 
Creek, made September 10th, 1677; and still on file 
in the State records at Trenton. He afterward had, 
in 1685, a deed of sixteen acres of land as his town 
lot in Cohansey, to which place he removed. 

A maternal ancestor of Mr. Watson, Gilbert 
Fanning, came to this country from the vicinity of 
Dublin, in 1641, bringing with him his young bride, 
known as "the beautiful Kate," a daughter of Hugh 
O'Connor, Earl of Connaught. He settled in Groton, 
Connecticut, and purchased there, about the year 
1645, a place called Fort Hill, formerly fortified 



14 A MEMOIR OF 

against the Indians, which remained in the family 
for more than a century. 

This Gilbert Fanning left three sons, the eldest of 
whom, John, was famed in New England history for 
his bravery in the Indian wars, particularly in the 
Narraganset fight, in which he had a command. His 
son, John 2d, married and died early in life, leaving 
two sons; one of whom, John 3d, married Abigail 
Miner, whose ancestors settled in Stonington, Con- 
necticut, about 1642, bringing with them "a vellum 
pedigree, traced back for upwards of three hundred 
years."* 

These last named, John Fanning and Abigail Miner, 
his wife, were the maternal grand-parents of the sub- 
ject of this memoir. They had three sons and three 
daughters. One daughter married Major Ebenezer 
Adams, of the artillery ; the same officer who volun- 
teered, with Major Barton, to go and capture General 
Prescott, from the midst of his command at Rhode 
Island ; a deed of adventurous and successful daring, 
which filled the country with their praise. Another 
daughter of this John Fanning married a Backus, 
and was the mother of Azel Backus, D. D., first Presi- 
dent of Hamilton College, New York.f The third 
daughter, Lucy, as was before stated, married William 

* See Note A. t See Note B. 



JOHX FANNING WATSON. 15 

Watson ; — these were the parents of John Fanning 
Watson. William, the father, is said to have been "a 
true patriot, of a noble, generous nature, who would 
sacrifice his own interest for that of his country." 
And his wife was a lady every way worthy of such a 
husband. 

For both his parents the son ever entertained and 
expressed the highest esteem, and the fondest affec- 
tion. Few, indeed, are the sons in our day who so 
honor their father and mother as Watson, in his 
youth and old age, honored his. Of his father he has 
left us this interestiniT and touchino; reminiscence: — 

" At the beginning of the Revolutionary War, my 
father, being the owner of several vessels, disposed of 
his property therein, and putting the proceeds into 
Continental money, went to sea as a volunteer, in the 
General Mifflin, private ship of war, with my uncle, 
Lieut. John Fanning. They were cast away in a 
snow storm on the Virginia beach, and almost perished 
with cold; seventeen of the crew having actually so 
died. Shortly after, he went again to sea in another 
public vessel, when they captured several prizes. 
The only prize-money he ever received was laid out 
in silver spoons, still preserved in my family as heir- 
looms; so invested at the time for the expressed pur- 
pose of defeating the adage that 'prize money could 
not last.' 



16 A MEMOIR OF 

"On another occasion, whilst my mother was a 
young bride, there being a field call, intended to pre- 
pare a detachment to assist Pulaski to repel a British 
invasion, my father was the first to step out as a 
volunteer. In the short service which ensued, his 
commanding officer was shot, when he took the com- 
mand, and brought off the company, 

"On the 10th of November, 1781, his house was 
fired, and he taken prisoner, by the famous refugee, 
Joe Mulliner (afterwards hung at Burlington), and 
by him carried to the New York Provost, where, be- 
coming sick, he was removed to the Stromboli Hos- 
pital ship, in which he was detained till the 10th of 
March following. On returning home to my loved 
mother and myself, an infant, he found all his patriotic 
Continental money very greatly depreciated, and him- 
self surrounded by adverse circumstances. Finally, 
whilst in a vessel, on her passage from New Orleans, 
accompanied by my brother, who was then preparing 
as a midshipman for our navy, both were lost. Thus 
ends the melancholy history of my noble father!" 

The history of his equally noble mother was not 
so sad ; many bright days of happiness with her de- 
voted son, were reserved for her. She must have 
been a woman of rare accomplishments, of a highly 
cultivated mind, and great purity of heart. We have 
seldom, if ever, seen a more beautiful portraiture than 



JOHN FANNING WATSON, 17 

that which is given of her in a manuscript now before 
us, written by one who knew and loved her well. 

" I can never forget," she writes, " with what 
delight my childish ear listened to her tales of other 
days ; so full of romance and exciting interest. She 
almost idolized her kindred, and would weep over 
the story of their trials and early deaths. She was a 
sweet singer, a skilful instrumental performer, and a 
composer of several pieces of sacred music. We 
have many little sketches made by her when quite a 
child, beautifully executed ; one sweet little colored 
view on Mystic River; another of the old family 
mansion of the Miners, built in the reign of Charles 
the Second, where her mother was born ; another a 
small book of well executed animals; many frag- 
ments of silk and worsted work, and samplers dis- 
playing Bible history. 

" She was also a poetess ; indeed, her heart was too 
full of feeling not to be one. When Lafayette, for 
whom my grandmother had the most profound rever- 
ence, visited America, she addressed to him some 
stanzas, which he afterwards acknowledged in a very 
complimentary manner. She was then quite an old 
lady. Some of her early recollections of New England 
— a picture of primitive New England life — were 
presented to Daniel Webster, which he acknowledged 
with gratitude as deeply touching his feelings. 



18 A MEMOIR OF 

" Besides her literary attainments and cultivated 
manners, my grandmother was a woman of most ex- 
alted piety; 'a Mother in Israel.' And though her 
beauty and accomplishments caused her society to be 
much sought after, we nowhere find her unmindful of 
her religious duties. A humble Christian spirit per- 
vades all her writings, early and late." 

The examples and teachings of such parents could 
not but leave a deep impress upon the mind and heart 
of their son. After completing the usual course of 
instruction to qualify him for mercantile pursuits, 
young Watson was placed in the counting-house of 
JamesVanuxem, an eminent merchant of Philadelphia, 
where he was accustomed to speak and write French. 

He continued in that commercial house until the 
year 1798, when he became a member of Macpher- 
son's Blues, which, offending the French interests of 
the firm, caused him to resign his place and withdraw. 
He was now nineteen years of age. A clerkship in 
the War Department at Washington was oftered him, 
which he accepted, and occupied satisfactorily till 
1804, when he resigned his post, formed a connexion 
in business with General James O'Hara,* of Pittsburg, 

* "Gen. O'Hara bad been Quartermaster-General to Gen. Wayne's 
Indian army. He was the chief founder of Pittsburg, and knew it, 
when not one house of the present town was built. He was a man of 
great wealth, enterprise, and foresight; but was considered visionary 
when he used to say he should ' live to see ships built there,' which he 
did!"— J. F. W. 



JOHN FANNING WATSON. 19 

and went to New Orleans. At this time he was in his 
twenty-fifth year ; active, vigorous, with good business 
talents, and an irreproachable character ; and all was 
bright before him. He was soon appointed to the re- 
sponsible office of commissary of provisions for the 
army, at all the posts in Louisiana. This brought him 
in contact with many prominent citizens and officers, 
and their families, and afforded him an opportunity 
for cultivating the acquaintance of persons of refine- 
ment and intelligence. 

His journal, kept at this period of his life, and now 
in possession of his family, is said to be full of inte- 
rest. His voyage down the Ohio and Mississippi, in 
a rude boat, drifting slowly along with the current, 
for the most part through a wilderness, — with its few 
enjoyments and many hardships, — is described with a 
cheerful spirit and a graphic pen. Those who now 
travel swiftly, and at their ease, over those same 
waters, in splendid steamers, with all the luxuries of 
a first-class hotel, can hardly imagine that less than 
sixty years ago the only conveyance from Pittsburg 
to New Orleans was a clumsy boat, or a rude raft, 
with its ruder crew. 

Mr. Watson's residence in New Orleans was sud- 
denly and painfully terminated in two brief years, by 
the death of his father and brother, both of whom, as 
before related, were lost at sea, with the vessel and 



20 A MEMOIR OF 

all on board of her. This great calamity made it 
necessary for him to return home to his widowed 
mother, then residing in Philadelphia ; and he ac- 
cordingly took passage from New Orleans to Havana, 
and thence to Charleston. The event, calamitous as 
it was, was providentially overruled for good. It en- 
abled him to devote much of his time and energies to 
those pursuits which were most congenial to his taste, 
and by which he could most benefit mankind. We, 
who are here to-night, are reaping the fruits of his 
literary labors which he could not have produced, had 
he remained in his pleasant southern home. 

Immediately on his return to Philadelphia, he es- 
tablished himself as a bookseller and publisher in 
Chestnut Street, and continued in that business seve- 
ral years. During this time he was largely interested 
in tlie publication and sale of Dr. Adam Clarke's 
Commentary on the Old and New Testament, which 
led to an interesting correspondence with the pious 
and learned author of that elaborate and useful work. 
He was also publisher of the Select Reviews of Lite- 
rature. 

In the year 1812, Mr. Watson was married to 
Phebe Barron Crowell, daughter of Thomas Crowell, 
of Elizabethtown, New Jersey, a lineal descendant of 
Oliver Cromwell, the Protector. Two brothers of the 
family came over from England. One of them, the 



JOHN FANNING WATSON. 21 

ancestor of Thomas Crowell, settled at Woodbridge, 
New Jersey, and the other stopped for a time at New 
London, Connecticut, and afterwards bought all of 
Barnstable County, Massachusetts, and settled there. 

Mr. Watson's union with Miss Crowell was a most 
happy one. They were blessed with a family of seven 
children, two of whom died in early life ; five are yet 
living, three daughters and two sons.* The mother 
was spared to be the light of their home, the meet 
companion of her affectionate husband, in all his joys 
and sorrows, for forty-seven years. She died in 
eighteen hundred and fifty-nine. 

Two years after his marriage, 1814, Mr. Watson 
was elected Cashier of the Bank of Germantown, on 
its organization, and held the office for more than 
thirty-three years, devoting himself faithfully to the 
interests of that institution. He resigned in 1847, 
when he was chosen Treasurer and Secretary of the 
Philadelphia, Germantown and Norristown Railroad 
Company, which position he held till the summer of 
1859, and then retired from all active business, "not 
wishing to occupy any office after his eightieth year." 



* The eldest daughter, Lavinia Fanning, is the wife of Harrison Whit- 
man, son of Chief Justice "Whitman, of Maine. Selena, the second, is 
the wife of Charles Willing, Esq., of Philadelphia. Myra, the third, is 
unmarried. The eldest son. Dr. Barron Crowell, resides in Morristown, 
New Jersey. He married Julia, daughter of Hon. William Willis, of 
Portland, Maine. The youngest son, John Howell, is unmarried. 



22 A MEMOIR OF 

Though at that time full fourscore years old, he was 
healthy and vigorous ; and, as he said of himself, felt 
like " Caleb, as strong to go out and come in, as he 
was forty years before." 

He had managed the affairs of the Railroad Com- 
pany with all the energy of youth, and, it is believed, 
to their entire satisfaction. 

For the principal materials of this memoir thus far, 
we take pleasure in acknowledging our indebtedness 
to Mrs. Lavinia F. Whitman, a daughter of Mr. 
Watson, who prepared a well-arranged paper for our 
aid; — and to John S. Littell, Esq., for many years an 
intimate friend of the deceased, who kindly sent us 
numerous extracts from a letter which he received 
from Mr. Watson, dated August, 1859. 

We copy now from Mrs. Whitman's communica- 
tion, some interesting circumstances and events in 
her honored father's life, which none but a member 
of his household could know, and none could describe 
so well as an intelligent, loving daughter. 

" It is a remarkable fact that my father, in his long 
course of official duties, was scarcely ever detained 
from his office one day by sickness. Not one of his 
children ever remember to have seen him sick in bed, 
till within the last two years of his life. His habits 
were of the Franklin order, — temperate in all things. 
I have heard my mother say at the time of his writ- 



JOHN FANNING WATSON. 23 

ing the Annals, that she had great fears lest his double 
duties would break him down. Early and late, when 
out of bank, would he be found in his antiquarian 
labors. This was an exception, however, for he was 
usually attentive to the rules of health, such as regu- 
lar habits in eating and drinking, and some daily 
amount of exercise. He was very fond of gardening, 
and all agricultural pursuits, and employed much of 
his time in this way. He had quite a mechanical 
turn, and displayed his taste and ingenuity in con- 
structing rustic seats, flower-trays, &c., — understand- 
ing the true art of beautifying without much cost. 

" My father was also a great walker. Feeling this 
deficiency in my mother, who could never bear much 
fatigue, he early trained us all to the use of our feet 
and limbs. The Wissahiccon was his favorite resort ; 
here he would engage in sketching and angling ; the 
latter, however, without much success. In all our 
rambles, his mind seemed to be always inquiring, — 
never at rest ; and I remember now, that I often grew 
weary with having this and that spot pointed out, and 
its history told ; it appeared to me then of so little con- 
sequence. He would try to picture to my young mind 
the Indians roaming over those same cultivated fields; 
— the Indians I always loved to hear about. He 
once took me to see a man a hundred and ten years 
old, — who was very communicative about the wars, — 



24 A MEMOIR OF 

and tried to impress me with the thought that I might 
never again see so old a person; — Look at him! 
Touch him ! Remember him ! 

" One of my father's greatest enjoyments, was his 
Aveekly tea-visits, Saturday, at Stenton. Here he 
always found a congenial spirit in the person of that 
most lovely and accomplished woman, Mrs. Deborah 
Logan, — the 'Female Historian' of Pennsylvania. 
He had many years of valuable correspondence with 
her, some of which, I believe, was presented to the 
Historical Society. 

" One secret of my father's long life and uninter- 
rupted health, was his great equanimity of temper, 
and patient endurance of the ills of life. He passed 
through many trials, both of a domestic and pecu- 
niary nature, but never allowed himself to despair. 
Hope, that 'anchor of the soul,' sustained him. He 
was a firm believer in an unseen hand that shapes 
our destinies, — and in the revealed truth, that what 
seems dark and mysterious now, will be clear to us 
hereafter ; — in other words, he had implicit faith and 
trust in God. 

" My father was remarkable for retaining so many 
of his early attachments, both for persons and places. 
He had outlived most of the friends of his youth; 
but to such as were left, within travelling distance, 
who could not come to him, he paid an annual visit. 



JOHN FANNING WATSON. 25 

Kecently, after an absence of fifty years, he visited, 
in turn. New England, Pittsburg, and Baltimore. 
As he never travelled 'without his pencil,' we have 
many most valuable mementos of his journeyings. 

" In every relation of life, my father's feelings were 
fresh and ardent, as in those of youth. A friend, — 
the son of an early companion, — in writing to him 
recently, said, 'It is not by years that we should 
count our life, but by the soul, the feelings ; — if they 
remain warm and tender, as yours are, we are still 
young. It is only when the heart becomes seared, 
that life is dull.' 

" My father had lost none of his faculties up to the 
day of his death. His sight was remarkably pre- 
served, so that he read and wrote often without 
glasses; and his hearing was unimpaired. Of his 
handwriting, all know how entirely regular, neat, and 
free from tremulousness it was. 

" At the age of seventy, my father went to one of 
our neighboring mill-dams and skated High Dutch ; 
and only two winters since, wished to make the trial 
again, but we dissuaded him from it. He had none 
of the infirmities of age, and therefore could not feel 
old. He was a man of the most untiring energy and 
perseverance, and could never be idle. Within the 
last year of his life, he had commenced the study of 
German ; being a good French and Latin scholar. 



26 A MEMOIR OF 

"We have several volumes in manuscript on the- 
ology, this being a subject upon which my father 
meditated a great deal. His correspondence with 
Professor Silliman concerning the Deluge is very 
interesting. We suppose that no other layman in 
the United States has been so general and thorough 
in his topics of research into Bible history as he. 
We feel that we have a most valuable legacy in 
these papers. 

"Another volume of manuscripts is devoted to the 
vindication of Cromwell. My father took a particular 
interest in this matter, on account of my mother's 
descent from the Protector. He has preserved much 
of the family history, from the time of the two bro- 
thers Cromwell arriving here. They left England 
about the time of the Protectorate; and, 'in crossing 
the ocean,' were informed by their American captain 
of the unpopularity of their name with some; they, 
therefore, resolved to part with the m, so as in effect 
to make a new family name. The act of change was 
done on board the vessel, with form and solemnity, 
casting the m into the sea. 

" An autograph letter of Mr. Watson to Dr. Adam 
Clarke, on this subject, written in 1821, was recently 
advertised for sale, in London, for £1116 sterlino'.* 



* The advertisement, cut from an English newspaper, was given to 
Mr. Watson by his venerable friend, John McAllister, Esq. 



JOHN FANNING WATSON, 27 

"A 'vellum of pedigree,' sustaining the foregoing 
facts, and giving the names of successive descendants, 
was preserved in the family, from the time of their 
arrival down to the period of the Revolutionary war, 
when it was purloined, with a box containing other 
valuables, from the house of Hon. John Crowell, in 
Halifax, North Carolina, by a party of Tarleton's 
horsemen. 

" It was never any effort for my father to write ; but 
he had no talent for extempore speaking, and dreaded 
being called upon, when attending a public dinner, &c. 
This may have arisen from his aversion to notoriety; 
for, though he liked to have his labors appreciated, 
he shunned publicity. 

" And, here, I would remark, that my father was not 
a man generally popular, but most dearly beloved and 
valued by all those who had the privilege of an inti- 
mate intercourse with him. He was a true friend, 
and his heart full of tenderness and sensibility, was 
one upon which you could repose with confidence 
and love. It was sound to its core. His noble feel- 
ings were above the little 'envies and jealousies' 
which so often destroy confidence and aff"ection. 
Everywhere original, 'he was guileless as a child' — 
he never professed a friendship which he did not feel, 
nor sought for public favor. — Had he done so, by 
being more of a courtier and less honest and sincere, 



28 A MEMOIR OF 

it would greatly have advanced his pecuniary inte- 
rests, by procuring him offices of much greater emolu- 
ment than those which he held, and which his talents 
and original family influence entitled him to. But my 
father was not the man to sacrifice personal feeling at 
the shrine of mammon. 

" I do not believe that, in any act of his life, he 
was ever governed by mercenary motives — indeed, 
his own interests were too frequently sacrificed for 
the benefit of others. 

" So pure a mind and unselfish a heart are rarely 
met with among men of the present generation. 

" It is somewhat remarkable that my father, deeply 
as he was interested in antiquarian research, should 
not have made it a hobby, to the exclusion of all 
other subjects. But he did not — his writings em- 
brace almost every topic of the day. Many of them 
are intended only for the eyes of us, his children, and 
as such will be held sacred. 

" The Annals of Philadelphia, which he began to 
prepare as early as 1820, and published in 1830, have 
passed through two editions, and are now in the third. 
The Annals of New York, it is believed, have also 
passed to a second edition. ' The former work,' he tells 
us, 'was in eff'ect the origin of the Historical Society 
of Pennsylvania; it being founded on a solicited 
pledge, that if the manuscript materials of the An- 



JOHN" FANNING WATSON. 29 

nals should be contributed to such Society, then it 
should be based thereon. And so it was done.'* 

" The more I see of my father's writings, the more 
I feel how deeply rooted was his interest in the pre- 
servation of the early history of our country. I have 
before me a copy of his letter to the Hon. Edward 
Everett, in 1825, urging him to preserve some such 
history of Boston, as he himself was then preparing 
of Philadelphia. 'My aim,' he says, 'has been to 
gather data, which might serve for future exercise in 
poetry, painting, and works of the imagination. Two 
years since I endeavored to prompt the New York 
Historical Society to institute some such researches 
for their city. Dr. Hosack was commissioned to in- 
form me that it was received with great cordiality, 
and that my principles of inquiry would be adopted 
for New York. 

" ' First aim to give an intellectual picture of Bos- 
ton and its inhabitants, customs, &c., as it stood at 
its settlement, and then at successive stages of thirty 
to fifty years. My scheme enables you to detail much 
of that which would not suit the gravity and dignity 
of common history; indeed, I rather aim to notice 
just such incidents as that omits. I could aid you 
from a manuscript book of large size, never pub- 

* Mr. Watson's Letter to J. S. Littell, Esq. 



30 A MEMOIR OF 

lished, and written in Boston in 1740. I have also 
some notices from the journal of a British sailor, 
who visited you almost a century since. You will 
perceive that the mind, which shall be qualified for 
such a pleasing task, must possess such taste, enthu- 
siasm, and energy to execute his will, and express his 
feelings, as must prompt a poet to lay everything 
under contribution to his art. He must seek out old 
people, of all descriptions ; he must not scruple to act 
without formal introduction ; he must labor to bring 
back to the imagination things which none can any 
longer see ; he must generate the ideal presence, and 
learn to commune with men and manners of other 
times. To prepare a suitable mind for effecting my 
object, he should seek out, and carefully run over, 
the oldest gazettes, magazines, &c. ; their local news 
will furnish many facts and valuable hints. Another 
source of local information will be found in consult- 
ing the earliest court records, &c. ; but more particu- 
larly in the presentments of the grand juries of each 
court, you will get at the earliest condition of the 
place and people. I have had some curious experi- 
ence myself; — and to see your Blue Laws exemplified, 
in some such cases, might afford considerable amuse- 
ment to the present generation.' 

"In another letter before me, to William Rawle, 
Esq., President of the Historical Society of Pennsyl- 



JOHN FANNING WATSON. 31 

vania, written in the same year, he urges the Society, 
' by its members in every county, to collect from the 
old soldiers of the Revolution, all the remarkable in- 
cidents, coming to their knowledge, of the war. This 
would collect many proofs of individual valor, and 
many moving anecdotes. Get also from those pio- 
neers, who were the first settlers in the interior, the 
many strange things they first saw, in its savage state, 
and the contrast now. Urge the Society to recom- 
mend similar inquiries in all the Historical Societies 
in the Union.' 

"I have made these extracts for the purpose of 
showing with what a spirit of love my father labored ; 
what an earnest desire he had to promote a know- 
ledge of our early history. 

"In connection with his writings, he had pre- 
served many valuable relics of the past. His collec- 
tion is not so large as it was formerly, having recently 
parted with many interesting relics and autographs. 
He had, at one time, a very great number of the 
latter. I presume, however, there are embraced in 
the present collection many articles of which no other 
person has a duplicate. 

"My father's chamber, when near the close of life, 
was painfully suggestive of his recent comfortable 
moments of health, as he lay surrounded by many 
objects so interesting to him. Near by his bedside 



32 A MEMOIR OF 

stood his old secretary, at which he wrote, containing 
his most vahiable papers and writings, and by it, that 
venerable chair of Penn, made more remarkable by 
having seated Prince William and Lafayette.* In 
the corner was an old clock-case, belonging to the 
same family, with a tray holding seven canes of relic 
wood; — the walls were hung round with pictures of 
ancient houses, scenes, &c., all framed from some 
portion of the woods represented; and from two of 
the windows were suspended cannon balls, — placed 
there but a few days previously ; — one was from the 
battle of Germantown, presented by Benjamin Chew, 
Sen., Esq. The other reads, — 'This Ball is a curi- 
osity. — It is older than Philadelphia; — was found 
imbedded in the root of a large tree-stump, in a house 
of Budd's long row. J. F. AVatson, 1836.' 

" One of the greatest pleasures of my father's life, 
was to see the deeds of the good rewarded; and, 
when they had passed from life, to have their graves 
honored. With such feelings he collected the re- 
mains of Godfrey, the inventor of the Quadrant, from 
a neglected spot on the old farm, and had them con- 
veyed to Laurel Hill, where a neat and appropriate 
monument was erected over them, by subscription. 

" I think my father's memory was remarkably re- 
tentive of all the minutiae of his early days. He was 

* See Note C. 



JOHN FANNING WATSON. 33 

then the observing child. He says, ' In reflecting upon 
the marked characteristic of my mother, in so well 
remembering names, persons, and places, which she 
had heard or seen in early life, I am led to the 
thought, of how much she was like ' the Annalist' 
himself. It seems to be a kind of family faculty; — 
will any of our children possess if?' 

" My father was no great politician ; he was born 
and died a Whig in principle, though the name seems 
to be almost obsolete. He was, perhaps, in the last 
few months of his life, the most seemingly interested 
in politics, owing to the state of our country. When 
sick and fevered, his dreams would be of wars and 
bloodshed, and I remember his awaking from a dream 
of such a scene as an attack upon the forts at Charles- 
ton, and with tears in his eyes telling me, — ' I do not 
wish to live to see our Union dissolved.' Alas, dear 
parent, your prayer was granted ! 

" I have said nothing of my father in his married 
relations; but I might say, that Heaven never per- 
mitted a union where there was greater congeniality, 
or more just appreciation of each other. The greatest 
sorrow my father ever knew, — and he had many, — 
was when the hand of sickness pressed so heavily 
upon her, who had been his loved companion, and 
the sun-beam of our home. But I am withdrawing 
the curtain from scenes which are sacred ! 



34 A MEMOIR OF 

" Life with our honored father is now closed. We 
can never cease to mourn the loss of one so good and 
so heloved ; a most devoted parent, self-sacrificing 
and toiling for us. He is gone; but not without 
leaving with us, his children, the most perfect assur- 
ance of a blessed immortality. He passed away with 
but one struggle ; and then it seemed as if instantly, 
upon his brow, was written by an angel's hand, all 
now is peace /" 

Mr. AVatson died Sunday, December 28, 1860, in 
the eighty-second year of his age. 

Here we might appropriately close the memoir of 
our departed friend, with the silent, salutary lesson 
of this hallowed death-bed scene impressed upon our 
hearts. And such would be our wish; but justice to 
him, to his family, to this Society, and to all who 
honor his memory, requires that, on an occasion like 
this, we notice more fully some events and actions of 
his life which have here been only incidentally men- 
tioned. 

From his early youth Mr. Watson appears to have 
had a great regard for religion. His mother, he tells 
us, "was a very pious woman of the earliest Metho- 
dists in Philadelphia; and her books and her example 
led him to join her persuasion." In a manuscript 
before me, he gives an account of his agency in intro- 
ducing the first Protestant religious services in New 



^ 



JOHN FANNING WATSON. 35 



Orleans ; by which it appears that he, though educated 
a Methodist, but at that time not united in com- 
munion with them, or any other denomination, was 
the founder of the Protestant Episcopal Church in that 
city. His manuscript is entitled " Recollections of 
New Orleans," written in 1805-6. 

" I was the first and sole person who, at New Or- 
leans, in 180i-5, suggested and eventually realized 
the establishment there of the Protestant Episcopal 
Church. I first began by writing sundry articles, 
under different signatures, for Mr. Maury's paper, 
then published there. I was not then a religious 
man; but felt a certain 'leanness in the soul,' from 
not being able to hear preaching of any kind, in any 
church. I had, with sundry others of my contem- 
poraries, a peculiar longing for some of the Songs of 
Zion, and their attendant worship, such as I had 
before witnessed at home. To have no worship was 
felt as a bereavement. I was then acting as a mer- 
chant, and specially as purveyor for the army supply 
of provisions, in all lower Louisiana; and, therefore, 
had many agents acting for me at the various military 
posts, even as far off as Natchitoches, Ouachita, Wal- 
nut Hills, &c. On one occasion myself, with the 
officers in garrison at New Orleans, procured the 
services of an Irish priest, who preached for us in 
English. It was so, that a Scotch gentleman, who 



36 A MEMOIR OF 

owned the house where Maury printed, asked his 
permission to obtain my name, and he thereupon 
called upon me, and with tears in his eyes told me 
how very much his heart was engaged in the success 
of my views ; and offering, at the same time, to con- 
tribute one thousand dollars towards the settlement 
of some clergyman, who should preach in English. 
When I found the matter sufficiently ripe for discus- 
sion and adoption, in some form, I procured the pub- 
lication of a town call of English residents to consider 
the subject. The meeting was well attended; and 
we there found persons of various denominational 
bias; — some were of Episcopal training, — some were 
of Methodist and Baptist families, — a few were Qua- 
kers, — but the most of them were Presbyterians. 
Almost all of us were young men, and men of the 
world. The first meeting was adjourned for further 
consideration; and, in the meantime, I wrote an ar- 
ticle favoring a preference for the Episcopal Church, 
because it had a liturgical service, and was, therefore, 
more adapted to suit the bias and ingathering of the 
numerous Romanist families. When we again met, 
those views decidedly prevailed; and upon Mr. Ed- 
ward Livingston's commendation of the talents and 
piety of the Rev. Mr. Chase, then of New York, and 
afterwards Bishop, — first of Ohio, and next of Illi- 
nois, — it was resolved, that Mr. Livingston be desig- 



JOHN FANNING WATSON. 87 

nated to correspond with, and invite that gentleman 
to come out and take the charge of establishing such 
a church. He did so; and the result was that Mr. 
Chase was so engaged. I soon after left that country 
and went back to Philadelphia. Since then, I have 
myself become an Episcopalian, in Germantown. I 
never made these facts known, beyond the bounds of 
my own family; and I now write them down at their 
request. I was indeed an unworthy instrument for 
a lasting good ; and now only wonder at the employ- 
ment of such an agent!" 

For more than thirty years, and up to the time of 
his decease, Mr. Watson was a constant and exem- 
plary communicant in St. Luke's Church, German- 
town, of which the Rev. John Rodney is, and has 
been for five and thirty years, the esteemed and be- 
loved Rector. He was a sincere Christian, a devout 
man, and liberal in his feelings towards Christians of 
every name. He once said, in a letter to a friend, 
"a name in heaven is the thing after all." And, as 
that friend justly remarks — " It does not always, or 
frequently happen, that men of his determined inde- 
pendence and self-reliance, in investigation, arrive at 
this only safe and most happy conclusion. It would 
be better for poor human nature, if there were many 
more among men, equally honest, honorable, and con- 
scientious !" 



38 A MEMOIR OF 

A bright and beautiful trait in Mr. Watson's cha- 
racter, as we have seen, was his affection and respect 
for the memory of all good men who had been useful 
in their generation. His care for the remains of God- 
frey and his parents has been already noticed. They 
were taken to Laurel Hill, and over them was placed 
a new marble tomb-stone, with this inscription: — 

Here repose the remains 

of 

Thomas Godfrey, the inventor of the Quadrant, 

Born n04, died 1749. 

Also 

The remains of his father and mother, 

Joseph Godfrey and Wife. 

They were removed from the old homestead, 

by Townsend's first Mill, October 6, 1838, 

By John F. Watson. 

Vitam navitce complanavit* 

The same kind care was shown for the remains of 
a number of officers and soldiers of the Revolution, 
who fell in the battle of Germantown. Several of the 
most distinguished of these were natives of North 
Carolina; and Wheeler, in his history of that State, 
after recording the names of these men, says, — " The 
thanks of the State, and the gratitude of every indivi- 
dual of North Carolina, are due to Mr. Watson, for his 
generous and patriotic liberality to the heroic dead." 

* See Watson's Anuals, vol. i. p. 528. 



JOHN" FANNING WATSON. 89 

The same historian, Hon. John H. Wheeler, in a 
letter to a friend in North Carolina, dated Philadel- 
phia, September 25, 1851, —published in the Raleigh 
(North Carolina) Standard, and republished in the 
North American and United States Gazette of October 
17, 1851, says:— 

" I was invited a few days since, by John Fanning 
Watson, author of Annals of Philadelphia, and many 
other works, to visit with him the battle ground of 
German town, which, on the 4th of October, 1777, 
was literally watered with the best blood of North 
Carolina. General Francis Nash, of Orange, Colonel 
Henry Irwin, of Edgecombe, Captain Jacob Turner, 
of Bertie, and others, fell there nobly fighting in the 
cause of liberty. Mr. Watson has, with pious patri- 
otism, gathered the remains of General Nash, and 
erected over them a beautiful monument. 

" I saw the grave of Colonel Irwin and Captain 
Turner. It bears this inscription — 

" In honor of the brave. 

Hie jacent in pace, 

Col. Henry Irwin, of X. Carolina, 

Capt. Turner, Adjt. Lucas, and six Soldiers, 

killed in the Battle of Gerraantown. 

One cause, one grave."* 

* "Their bodies were recognized by an aged gentleman, Mr. Keyser, 
who saw them interred in 1777 ; and on their disinterment for sepulture 
in 183G, by Mr. Watson, the manly form of the brave Turner was still 



4.0 A MEMOIR OF 

"I cannot close this letter," says Mr. AVheeler, 
" without again expressing my admiration of the con- 
duct of Mr. Watson, a stranger to our State and our 
people, gathering, with patriotic reverence, the bones 
of her gallant sons, and marking the hallowed spot 
that holds their mutilated remains." 

Mr. Custis, in his Recollections of Washington 
(p. 203), speaking of the death and burial of General 
Nash, says : " He lingered in extreme torture be- 
tween two and three days, and died, admired by his 
enemies — admired and lamented by his companions 
in arms. On Thursday, the ninth of October, the 
whole American army was paraded by order of the 
Commander-in-chief, to perform the funeral obsequies 
of General Nash, and never did the warrior's last 
tribute peal the requiem of a braver soldier or nobler 
patriot than that of the illustrious son of North Caro- 
lina." Mr. Lossing, the Editor of Custis's Recollec- 
tions, in a note at this place, says (p. 204) : " The 
ball that wounded Nash, at Germantown, killed his 
aid, Major Witherspoon, son of Dr. Witherspoon, 
President of Princeton College. Nash's remains were 
conveyed to Kulpsville, and buried in the Mennonist 



known amid the decaying relics of humanity. A piece of the cloth, 
from the breast of his coat, with the buttons, was still undestroyed. 
This he presented to me, and I shall deposit the sacred memento with 
one of the Societies of our University." — J. F. W, 



JOHN FANNING WATSON. 41 

burying-groiind there, about twenty-six miles from 
Philadelphia. On receiving intelligence of his death, 
the Congress resolved to request Governor Caswell, 
of North Carolina, ' to erect a monument, of the value 
of five hundred dollars, at the expense of the United 
States,' in honor of his memory. 

" That proposed monument has not been erected. 
Private patriotism has been more faithful. Through 
the efforts of John F. Watson, Esq. — the Annalist of 
Philadelphia and New York, — the citizens of Ger- 
mantown and Norristown have erected a neat marble 
monument to the memory of the gallant Nash, upon 
which is the following inscription : — 

VOTA VIA MEA JUS PATRI^, 

In memory 

of 

General Nash, of Xorth Carolina, 

mortally wounded 

at the battle of Germantovvn ; 

here interred, 

October 17th, 1777, 

in the presence of the army here encamped. 

J. F. w. 

" Among the British officers killed on that occa- 
sion," Mr. Lossing adds, "were Brigadier-General 
James Agnew, and Lieutenant Bird. These were 
inhumed in the South burying-ground at German- 



42 A MEMOIR OF 

town, and over their graves also Mr. Watson has 
erected a neat marble slab." 

"In the North burying- ground, the same patriotic 
gentleman has set up commemorative slabs at the head 
of the graves of Captain Turner, of North Carolina,- 
Colonel Irwin, and six private soldiers of the xlmeri- 
can army, who were killed in the battle, and there 
buried together." 

Having quoted from the "Recollections and Pri- 
vate Memoirs of Washington, by his adopted son, 
George Washington Parke Custis," edited with notes 
by Benson J. Lossing, it is proper here to mention 
that, for these valuable reminiscences, we are pro- 
bably indebted, indirectly, to Mr. Watson. Mr. 
Lossing tells us that, as early as September, 1825, 
Mr. Watson wrote to Mr. Custis, "urging him to 
answer publicly a series of questions, which he (Mr. 
Watson) proposed to write; and which," he said, if 
fully answered, "would go more to develop, as by 
moral painting, the individual character of General 
and Mrs. Washington, as they appeared in domes- 
tic and every day life, than all that had ever been 
published." 

Mr. Custis promptly answered this letter, assuring 
Mr. Watson that as soon as he had completed his 
" Conversations with Lafayette," of which the thir- 
teenth number was just then finished, he should 



JOHX FANNING WATSON. 43 

commence the publication of the " Recollections of 
Washington."* 

" Such, in brief," says Mr. Lossing, " is the history 
of the origin of these Recollections, as given to the 
writer by the venerable annalist above mentioned, in 
May, 1859." (p. 220.) 

We make one more extract from Lossing's notes, 
for the purpose of showing who were the McPherson 
Blues, mentioned in this memoir, and who of them 
now survive their companions. 

Speaking of the death of Washington, which oc- 
curred at Mount Vernon, December 14, 1799, Loss- 
ing says : " The Congress, then sitting in Philadelphia, 
received information of the death of Washington, on 
the eighteenth," and, among other resolutions, adopt- 
ed the following: "That there should be a funeral 
procession from Congress Hall to the German Luthe- 
ran Church, in memory of General Cxeorge Washing- 
ton, on Thursday, the twenty-sixth instant, and that 
an oration be prepared at the request of Congress, to 
be delivered before both houses that day ; and that the 
President of the Senate, and the Speaker of the House 
of Representatives be desired to request one of the 
members of Congress to prepare and deliver the 
same." " Pursuant to this resolution, General Henry 

* See Note D. 



44 A MEMOIR OF 

Lee, then a member of Congress, was invited to pro- 
nounce a funeral oration. He consented, and the 
Lutheran Church above Arch Street, Philadelphia, 
the largest in the city, was crowded. The McPher- 
son Blues, a corps of three hundred men, composed 
of the elite of the city, were a guard of honor on 
that occasion." 

"There are now, — July, 1859, — only six survivors 
of that corps, who were present on the occasion; 
namely ; — Samuel Breck, aged eighty-eight, — S. Pal- 
mer, aged seventy-nine, — S. F. Smith, aged seventy- 
nine, — C. N. Bancker, aged eighty-three, — Quintin 
Campbell, aged eighty-three, — and John F. Watson, 
the annalist of Philadelphia and New York, aged 
eighty. These names were given me by Mr. Breck at 
a recent interview." (76. pp. 478-9.) 

Mr. Watson was anxious that something should be 
done to honor the neglected remains of John Fitch, 
the man who invented and constructed the first steam- 
boat which ran upon the Delaware. For this pur- 
pose, he wrote the following characteristic letter to 
the editors of the Louisville Journal, Kentucky, 
which was published in that paper at the time : — 

" Germantown, Pa., Sept. 13, 1848. 

" Gentlemen : — I draw a bow at a venture in ad- 
dressing this letter to you. I have no personal ac- 



JOHN FANNING WATSON. 45 

quaintance with any gentlemen in your place, and 
judge that, from your official position you must have 
influence with some one or more of your publishers, 
who, with yourselves, may feel a generous regard for 
the worthy dead who have been benefactors to our 
common country. My object is to have your public 
journalists, and, through them, your community, inte- 
rested in erecting some monument near your place, 
to the memory of John Fitch, the inventor, to whom 
we are so much indebted for the first impulse to the 
use of steam-power in the propulsion of vapor vessels, 
now so generally in use throughout the civilized world. 
" Some years have now elapsed since I began 
to interest myself in the name and fame of ' poor 
John Fitch,' as he called himself. Before I sought 
out his family remains and connections, — whom I 
found chiefly in Ohio, in respectable circumstances, — 
the public were wholly uninformed of his where- 
abouts. Some one published that he died in Phila- 
delphia of the yellow fever in 1793 ; — another that he 
drowned himself at Pittsburg. The truth is, that he 
died at Bardstown in your State, and is there buried ; 
and I have ascertained where his grave is, wholly un- 
distinguished ' by urn or monumental bust.' I had 
gone so far, some three years ago, as to have laid my 
plans to exhume his remains and bring them here, to 
be deposited at Laurel Hill Cemetery, and to have a 



46 A MEMOIR OF 

monument by subscription for one thousand dollars. 
But while this project was in process, the Governor 
of your State interfered so far as to beg to be allowed, 
for the honor of the State, to have his remains rest 
with you, and the people or State to have the honor 
of erecting a suitable monument. To this suggestion, 
deeming it sincere and fervent, I yielded, and since 
then have heard no more of the subject. To such 
neglect I, for one, am not reconciled ; and therefore 
I would again desire to arouse some public sympathy 
through the newspaper press. I therefore would ask 
that this letter should be shown to some man of influ- 
ence, that I may learn, if I can, whether this neglect 
is to continue. 

" I ought now perhaps to say of myself, that I am 
the person known to the public, favorably, as the 
annalist of 'Philadelphia and Pennsylvania in the 
Olden Time ;' and that in that work considerable is 
said of the personal history of John Fitch and his in- 
vention, &c. Several pages were bestowed upon the 
subject, and the work should be consulted, to judge of 
myself, and what I said of Mr. Fitch. Among other 
things, there was given the intended inscription for 
the monument, to be appropriated to tablets on the 
four sides. It was recommended to be placed on the 
banks of the Ohio ' below Louisville,' where I desired 
that his body should rest, ' within the sight and hear- 



JOHN FANNING WATSON. 47 

ing of the passing steamboats.' His own words 
formed the chief of the tablets ; among others was 
this, that ' thousands shall hereafter traverse the At- 
lantic Ocean, and descend the Mississippi and Ohio.'' 

" I have, I presume, written enough for a prelimi- 
nary. If sufficiently encouraged, I may hereafter 
give further and fuller explanations. I may say that 
the conversation of the Governor was not to myself, 
personally, but to a Mr. Whittlesey, who visited him 
in my behalf. I have an office in Philadelphia, and 
reside in Germantown, and may be written to or spo- 
ken with in either place. I do not wish my letter to 
be published, but that editors should in their own 
way awaken public attention, if they deem it of suf- 
licient importance to deserve their interference. 1 am 
in no way related to J. Fitch. 

" I am, respectfully, 

"JOHX F. WATSON." 

Mr. Watson was, as we have seen, a true patriot ; 
his family had done as much, perhaps, as any other, 
towards achieving the independence of their country, 
while he was yet an infant ; and he had seen it at- 
tain a height of prosperity under our noble Constitu- 
tion, unequalled by any nation on the globe. Its 
UNION was dearer to him than life. We have heard 
his affecting exclamation, a short time before his 



48 A MEMOIR OF 

death, — " I do not wish to live to see our Union dis 
solved!" And we can understand how deep, how 
real, how intense that feeling must have been, in his 
great heart, when we read his own account of the 
sacrifices, not of property only, but of life, for our 
national independence, in one branch of his family ; 
and when we read, besides, the touching memorial of 
his childhood. " Few persons," he writes, " have 
contributed so largely to the sufferings for the Revo- 
lutionary War, as that of the Fannings. The father 
of my mother, and his three sons, were all officers in 
the American navy, and all came to untimely deaths 
thereby. 

" The father was captured and taken into New 
York, and died in the Stromboli Hospital Ship, and 
his body was whelmed in the pits of the Wallabout. 

" His eldest son John, after whom I was named, was 
lieutenant, and twice captured, in the frigates Trum- 
bull and Virginia, and then drowned. The second 
son, Joshua, was first lieutenant in the Eandolph Fri- 
gate, when she blew up in action with the Yarmouth, 
sixty-four;* his brother, a lad, was a midshipman at 
the same time, in command of her tender.f My own 



* The facts in his case may be seen in the Congressional Report of 
March, 1836. He left a widow, sister of the late Capt. John Reed, of 
the Infantry, a brave officer, who was wounded in St. Clair's defeat. 

t See Note E. 



JOHN FANNING WATSON. 49 

father, while engaged at Egg Harbor, as public agent 
in making salt for army supplies, was captured by one 
of his own men, and, in a refugee barge, was taken 
prisoner to the New York Provost, to suffer there 
three months under Cunningham." 

And now for the account of events transpiring in 
his childhood's years, which we copy from a manu- 
script before us, in his own hand, written when eighty 
years of age. 

"MYSELF OF THE PERIOD OF THE REVOLUTION. 

" I was born in the stirring times of the Revolu- 
tionary War ; — of course I have a right to be num- 
bered as among those of that era, — to wit, on the 
13th of June, 1779. 

" That year of my birth was one in which the com- 
batants on both sides were without any great efforts, 
which could inspire much of hopes or fears. The 
chief effort on the American side was the gallant re- 
capture of Stony Point Fortress, by the energetic 
General Wayne, on the 16th July, 1779. The Bri- 
tish, on their part, seemed only intent on devastation 
and revengeful spite. Such was their predatory as- 
sault on New Haven, by Gen. Tryon, and his burning 
the defenceless towns of East Haven, Fairfield, and 
Norwalk, Connecticut. They about the same time 



50 A MEMOIR OF 

made their destructive captures of Norfolk, Ports- 
mouth, and Hampton, Virginia. 

"As some counterbalance to these ao:£fressions on 
us, there arrived to our intended aid, the French fleet 
under Count D'Estagne, off Charleston, and present- 
ing to us for a brief season, much of promise to 
our ears, but sadly breaking it to our hopes. The 
winter of that same year (79-80), was called the 
severest ever known in our country ; — a time of suf- 
fering to many. 

" I was therefore cradled in a year of sadness and 
dismay; and much of gloom and apprehension, must 
have sadly depressed the spirits of my parents, while 
looking upon their two children then born to such a 
state of peril and distress. Alas ! beloved and hon- 
ored parents! 

"In the campaign of 1780, began the fierce onset 
of the British on the Southern States. On the 28th 
March, 1780, they began the siege of Charleston, and 
on the 18th April, Cornwallis arrived there with his 
reinforcement of three thousand men. On the 10th 
July, 1780, however, as a set-off, there arrived at New- 
port, Rhode Island, the Count Rochambeau with his 
army of six thousand men, destined to raise our sink- 
ing spirits. In September, our arrant traitor, Arnold, 
aimed to surrender West Point ; — in October, our 
General Greene took command of our retreating army 



JOHN FANNING WATSON. 51 

in the South, and there worked his way favorably, in 
desperate resistances. 

"In the campaign of 1781, the British are gene- 
rally successful in the South, and are wholly reckless 
in their destruction and cruelty. In August, my 
uncle, John Fanning, Lieutenant of the Trumbull 
Frigate, is captured and taken to New York; — a 
sadness for our home circle! His brother, Joshua, 
a Lieutenant of the Randolph Frigate, was before 
blown up in battle with the Yarmouth, sixty-four. 
In August, 1781, the French and American armies 
arrived at Philadelphia on their way to the South; 
producing a time of cheerful hope to my parents and 
others. In September they succeed in driving Corn- 
wallis into Yorktown; and on the glorious 19th 
October, the dread British chieftain was compelled 
to surrender; and with him fly the hopes of the 
British conquerors. Then, for the first time, could 
my dear mother look with joy and hope upon her 
child of but two years of age. I was, indeed, nursed 
in a dark and gloomy day! With the close of the 
year, seemed to end the perils of the Ilevolution. 
Laus Deo! 

" Yet two years had to pass before a full confirma- 
tion could be had, to finish what had been achieved. 
It was not till the 3()th November, 1782, that the 
preliminary of peace had been signed at Paris; and 



62 A MEMOIR OF 

not till the 3d February, 1783, that the ratification 
was accomplished. Nor was it until the 19th April, 
1783, — the day of the eighth year of the war, — that 
the cessation of hostilities was proclaimed to our 
army. 

" In conclusion, I must add, that my mother, wish- 
ing to identify me with the scenes of the Revolution, 
when THE FLAG OF Peace was hoisted to the breeze, 
on Market Street Hill, held me up in her arms, and 
made me to see and notice that flag, so that it 
should be told by me, in after years; — she, at the 
same time, shedding many tears of joy at the glad 
spectacle. And now, an octogenarian, I feel a me- 
lancholy pleasure, in recording this my testimony, 
for the consideration of my own posterity !" 

And how happily has the veteran of fourscore years 
told this tale of his childhood! What a beautiful 
and glowing picture, — for poet or painter, — is here 
presented to the mind's eye, of maternal love, of de- 
voted patriotism, of filial affection! The patriotic 
MOTHER, whose father and three brothers had sacri- 
ficed their lives for the cause of liberty, lifting up 
her child, not yet four years old, that he might see 
the flag of peace ^ waving "O'er the land of the free, 
and the home of the brave!" and as tears of joy and 
gratitude rolled down her cheeks, charging him to 
note that flag-, — to bear its memory in his inmost 



JOHN FANNING WATSON. 53 

heart, that he might tell of it to his children, and 
they to theirs in after years ! It reminds us of the 
mothers of Israel, obedient to the divine command, 
showing to their children, as the Psalmist expresses 
it, — " the honor of the Lord, his mighty and wonder- 
ful works that he had done; — That their posterity 
might know it, and the children which were yet un- 
born ; — To the intent that when they came up, they 
might show their children the same; — That they 
might put their trust in God; and not to forget the 
works of God, but to keep his commandments." — 
Ps. 78, 4—8. 

We will not pause to consider how great must 
have been his grief, had he lived to see that flag dis- 
honored. But we will hope and pray, that he may, 
ere long, look down from his abode of bliss on this 
our land, restored to harmony and love, — the Union 
preserved ; — and that same national flag, — again the 
FLAG OF PEACE, with its glorious constellation of 
stars, — one more added, and not one lost, — waving 
its ample folds over a happy people, united by indis- 
soluble bonds ; pious, prosperous, and free. 



APPENDIX 



BY ONE OF THE FAMILY. 



APPENDIX. 



The foregoing Memoir, written, and read before the Pennsyl- 
vania Historical Society by one of my father's most esteemed and 
learned friends. Rev. Dr. Dorr, the author of so many valuable 
and interesting works, entered as fully into detail as it was thought 
proper for one evening's reading, and as such might be considered 
complete ; but, having been urged by members of the Society and 
others, to have the Memoir published, with some additional notes, 
genealogy, &c., I decided to present it, in its present form, with 
a short Appendix, not deeming it proper that my notes should 
extend beyond the limits of the Memoir itself. 

Did space permit, I could make many very interesting extracts 
from my father's various writings, all of which show deep research 
and great originality; also from his numerous correspondence — no 
private individual having probably had a more extensive one — 
with the great and good men of his day, and upon such an infinite 
variety of subjects. 

He had many years of valuable and intimate correspondence with 
the family of Gov. Livingston ; C9I. Allen McLane, the celebrated 
partisan officer of Col. Lee's Legion; Com. James iBarron, TJ.S.N.; 
Oliver Pollock, Esq., a resident merchant at New Orleans, and 
partner there of Robert Morris ; Dr. Tiddyman of South Carolina; 
Robert Vaux, John Vaughan, Peter S. Duponceau, Joseph P. 
Norris, Hon. Samuel Breck, John McAllister, &c. &c. ; all now 
passed away save the last two highly esteemed gentlemen. May 
their valuable lives be spared to a late period ! 

Besides numerous other single letters from distinguished per- 
sons, my father had a valuable legacy left him, by his early and 
greatly esteemed friend, Joseph Delaplaine, Esq., "a gentleman 



58 APPENDIX. 

very cordially beloved and very generally known throughout the 
United States, among the patrons of Belles-Lettres and the Fine 
Arts." It consists of a volume of letters to Mr. Delaplaine, from 
many of our former presidents, statesmen, jurists, clergymen, and 
naval and army officers. 

My father!s journals of travel, some of which are mentioned in 
the Memoir as made fifty years since, compare very interestingly 
with visits to the same places made recently; and, did space allow, 
I should like to make some extracts from them. He says of them : 
" I hope such of my family friends as shall come after me, will take 
care to preserve these manuscripts. The more they advance in 
age, the more curious and interesting they will become to them. 
It would be silly to suppose they could afford any interest to 
strangers, from the careless manner of the composition, but they 
may show to some of my posterity, the features of a mind laudably 
devoted to inquiry and observation; and if one of them, some fifty 
years hence, should be passing over the same regions, they may be 
expected to be peculiarly interesting to such. ' 'Twill soothe to 
be, where thou hast been.' " 

" To note and to observe" was my father's motto, and one of 
his most striking characteristics. Nothing ever escaped his notice ; 
and it is to such minds that Ave are indebted for the minutiae of 
bygone times. Elkanah Watson, in his " Men and Times of the 
Revolution," shows much of the same spirit of investigation, which 
I see his son notices in a recent letter to my father, thus: "I 
think you must be the very counterpart to my own father, in your 
observation of men and things. I had often thought, even before 
I knew you, by your correspondence, of the striking parallel be- 
tween you and himself, both in your labors and habits." 

Before introducing any further remarks, I desire to express my 
sincere appreciation of the many beautiful tributes of respect and 
affection that have been offered to the memory of our departed 
parent, both by public bodies and private individuals. I feel not 
the less grateful, because they are well merited. All goes to bear 
testimony to the worth of what we have lost; though, alas 1 "the 
altar upon which they are offered is the monumental marble." 

To the Rev. Dr. Dorr I feel much indebted for the affectionate 



APPENDIX. 59 

interest evinced towards us, and for the bestowal of so much of 
his valuable time in the arrangement of the preceding Memoir, he 
having had to select his material from numerous papers. 

To my father's long known and esteemed friend, John S. 
JjITTELL, Esq., I would also oifer my thanks for the affectionate 
and beautiful reference made to him, in some six pages of his 
" Memoir of Major Wm. Jackson," read before the Pennsylvania 
Historical Society, on the evening of the 14th of January. It 
was my intention to make some extracts from these remarks, could 
it have been done, without destroying the harmony of its con- 
nection. 

I shall now proceed to give the — 

ADDITIONAL GENEALOGY. 

To the historian, I know that everything is interesting con- 
cerning the ancestry and antecedents of one to whom the public 
will ever owe a debt of gratitude for his invaluable services in 
rescuing from oblivion so much of bygone days. My father, in 
speaking of his genealogy, after quoting thus from Boswell, " Family 
histories, like the imagines majorum of the ancients, excite to virtue ; 
it is well to transmit pedigrees to posterity," &c., says : " I trust 
it is not a weakness to endeavor to look a little into family affini- 
ties. Bible example has shown a remarkable regard to the pre- 
servation of family classes and tribes. The herald offices in Europe 
show sufficiently the attachment of enlightened men to these things. 
Even the Indians, following the dictates of nature, much reverence 
and esteem the bones and remains of their fathers. The monuments 
and gravestones, as they exist in all grave-grounds, are so many 
proofs of an instinctive respect for the fathers and families who 
have preceded us. To forget them, only because they have gone 
from our presence, is kindred ' to the brutes that perish.'" 

The Memoir states, that my father's paternal and maternal an- 
cestors emigrated to this country prior to the landing of Penn 
upon our shores. We have in possession the original grant of land 
made to the first Thomas Watson, in 1617 ; also, a copy of a sub- 
scription to the building of the Presbyterian church at Greenwich, 
in 1735, to which William Watson is one of three subscribers, 



60 APPENDIX. 

together with some interestiug matter connected with the name of 
Watson in Europe. Of his ancestry, on the paternal side, my 
father did not possess a very connected account, after their first 
settlement here. He seems to have been the only one of this 
branch of the Watsons to perpetuate his name — my grandfather 
having been left an orphan at an early age, without any near rela- 
tive, save an only sister, who died soon after her marriage. 

I will now make an extract from my grandmother's journal, 
regarding her paternal ancestor, Gilbert Fanning, mentioned by 
Dr. Dorr : — 

" This Gilbert Fanning was from the vicinity of Dublin, which 
city he left in the winter of 1<)41, in consequence of the famous 
Irish rebellion and massacre, in which upwards of 100,000 English 
and Protestants were inhumanly butchered by the Irish papists, 
under Sir Phelim O'Neale. Dublin alone made its defence, by 
having timely information of the conspiracy. The Scotch colonies 
were at first spared by the rebels, because they claimed original 
descent from that nation, and as Gilbert was of Scotch descent, he 
obtained refuge in that city ; from thence he embarked for Ports- 
mouth, England, and then sailed for America, &c. It is said that 
the family name originated in Wales, that part emigrated to Scot- 
land, and from thence to Ireland. The name is now numerous 
about Perth and Dublin. 

Sir William Bethune, head of the herald ofSce in Dublin, sends 
to a daughter of General Fanning in London, written notices of 
the family, which appear in the ancient records, commencing more 
than six hundred years since. He adds: "Few families can 
exhibit such testimony of their antiquity." 

Here follows a finely executed drawing by my grandmother of 
the " Family Arms." 

A granddaughter of this Gilbert Fanning, I might perhaps 
mention, as some New England descendant of the present day may 
remember to have heard of her, as "Aunt Packer." "She was 
famous for her pride, accomplishments, and understanding." Her 
husband was Capt. Packer, a descendant of Col. Packer, of Eng- 
land, who had a trooji of horse of his own raising in Cromwell's 
array in 1658. 



APPENDIX. 61 

Capt. Nathaniel Fanning, who died in 1805, was a cousin of 
my father's. He had been a midshipman in Paul Jones' celebrated 
action with the Serapis, and received the written commendation of 
his commander for his gallantry. He was afterwards commander 
of various private ships of war out of France, Md his memoirs, as 
published, gives the most stirring and exciting accounts of success- 
ful and adventurous daring. He had a brother, also commander 
of a private vessel of war, wherein he was soon captured and died 
shortly after. Another brother, Capt. Edmund Fanning, whose 
successful " Voyages round the World" have been published, had 
command of a Corvette Letter of Marque in the Pacific, where he 
discovered four important islands, which he named Washington, 
Fanning, Brintnels, and Williams. He was also the useful pro- 
jector of the scheme of the late polar exploration to the South 
Seas. 

Another cousin of my father's was Col. A. C. W. Fanning, of 
the United States Artillery. He died in 1846. Had attained 
four brevets, and was a distinguished scholar, as well as soldier. 
He with Col. Thayer and one other were selected by the United 
States and sent to France to study military tactics. He had been 
engaged in the Florida wars, which had much injured his health ; 
was in twenty-six sanguinary battles, had lost one arm (I think), 
when aid-de-camp to Gen. Pike. 

" Blackwood" published a series of extracts from "A Campaign 
in Texas," describing the terrific struggle in 1835, between Texas 
and Mexico, and the treacherous massacre at San Jacinto, of Col. 
Fanning (of Savannah) and his men, by order of Santa Anna. 

All of the Fannings hitherto spoken of, here and in the Memoir, 
were great patriots. There were others who adhered to the cause 
of the Royalists during the Revolutionary contest. We shall 
speak of but one other, Major-General Fanning, of the British 
army — a distinguished officer and greatly beloved by his com- 
panions in arms — of whom the " Gentleman's Magazine" for 1818 
says, "the world contained no better man;" but we know, how- 
ever, that he had his enemies on account of his great loyalty. 

I will close with an extract from Wheeler, the historian of 
North Carolina. " Col. Edmund Fanning (afterwards Major- 



62 APPENDIX. 

General) was a native of New York, and a distingnished tory. 
He was talented and finely educated, having graduated at Yale 
College in 1757, with distinction, and in after years had the degree 
of LL. D. conferred upon hira by the same. He was member of 
the Legislature o^|js'orth Carolina for many years, under the colo- 
nial government, and register of the county. In 1782, he was 
surveyor-general of New York ; afterwards removed to Nova 
Scotia, and was councillor and lieutenant of that province. In 
1786, he was appointed governor of Prince Edward's Island, which 
position he held for nineteen years, and a general in the British 
army. He died in London, in 1818, leaving one son, Frederic 
Augustus (Capt. in the array, since dead), and three daughters, 
two of whom are now living in England, married to gentlemen of 
rank ; one is the wife of Capt. Bentwick Cumberland, nephew of 
the late Lord Edward Bentwick." 

The late Hon. John Wickham, of Kichmond, Ya., the distin- 
guished orator and lawyer, was a nephew of Major-Gen. Fanning. 

Further particulars concerning the Fannings can be learned by 
reference to " Onderdonk's Revolutionary Incidents on Long 
Island," "Lossing's Field Book of the Revolution," "Wheeler's 
History of North Carolina," " Lee's Memoirs," &c. 

LETTER FROM THE YEXERABLE DR. HOLYOKE. 

[I make a copy of this letter, because it was written by Dr. Holyoke himself, 
on the very day on which he was one hundred years old. It is seldom that we 
have an opportunity of reading the feelings of so aged a person, penned by them- 
selves. It is also interesting as showing one of my father's modes of gleaning 
information concerning the past.] 

Salem (Mass.), 13th Aug. 1828. 
Sir:— 

I received your much esteemed favor last September, and wish 
it was in my power to give you an answer, in any degree adequate 
to your request, but the circle of my observation has been so 
limited (for the last 75 years I have but twice been thirty miles 
from home), and the business of my profession has so engrossed 
my attention, that much cannot be expected from me. 

I was born at Marblehead, three or four miles from Salem, 



APPENDIX. 63 

Aug, 1st, 0. S. 1728, and ia July, 1*732, I well remember the 
funeral of a lady from the next door — this is the first thing I dis- 
tinctly remember. 

Funerals were in that day extravagantly expensive. Gold rings 
to each of the bearers, to the physician, the ministers, &c. White 
stiff-topped gloves in abundance. Wine handed about to the 
company in tankards; many times when the family could ill-afford 
it. This extravagance occasioned the enacting sumptuary laws, 
which, though they checked, did not entirely suppress the evil, till 
the commencement of the Revolutionary War. Since which time, 
I think none can complain of extravagance of our funerals. 

About the year 1735 square-toed shoes were growing out of 
fashion — few, or none I believe, except old men, wore such after 
1737. Buckles instead of shoe strings were worn by fashionable 
men as long ago as I can remember, but were not universally 
adopted in the country towns till 1741 or 42. 

In the autumn of 1735 or 6 I, for the first time, saw a northern 
light, but totally different from the many I have seen since. The 
whole northeast quarter of the sky was suffused with a deep blood 
red uniform color, without the least variety, and without any cor- 
ruscations. Since this, I have seen many appearances of auroras, 
two of which were remarkable for their beauty and magnificence. 
The first appeared about the year 1754, the second twenty or 
thirty years after. The first was the most brilliant; I can give but 
an indifferent conception of it. Imagine the whole northern region 
of the heavens covered with a bright, luminous appearance of the 
prismatic colors, green, yellow, orange, red (but no blue) stripes, 
shooting from a dark cloud low in the horizon, upwards to the 
zenith, all in continual motion, corruscating with the rapidity of 
lightning, and when arrived at the zenith, appeared as if rever- 
berated from above, like flame from the top of an oven, and taking 
a spiral direction, exhibited a grand and sublime phenomenon. 
The light it gave was so bright, as to extinguish the light of the 
moon, then about two hours high, and two days after the full. 
That aurora could not have been very distant, for the rushing of 
the columns was very plainly and distinctly heard, as it frequently 
is, and resembled the rushing of a rocket, though fainter or more 



64 APPENDIX. 

distant. The second very nearly resembled this which I have at- 
tempted to describe, but differed in exhibiting more red light of a 
bloody cast, and instead of appearing near the zenith, verged con- 
siderably more to the southeast, but the brilliancy and the incessant 
vibrations, and its tortuous agitations, were much the same. 

But, sir, you must excuse me — writing is burdensome, and I 
have already written more, I am afraid, than you can read. 

My health is good, that is, I have a good appetite, and sleep as 
well as at any period of my life ; and, thanks to a kind Providence, 
suffer but little pain, except now and then pretty severe cramps. 
My mental faculties are impaired, especially my memory for recent 
events. But, sir, I am troubling you with circumstances of no 
importance. 

Wishing you health and prosperity, and success in your mea- 
sures to inform posterity, I do, with much respect, subscribe myself, 
Sir, your very humble servant, 

E. A. HOLYOKE. 

I am this day one hundred years old. 

Note. — He died on Wednesday evening, April 1st, 1829. 



APPENDIX. 6'5 



NOTES 



NOTE A. 

This " vellum of pedigree," together with the arms and different 
bearings created by marriage into other families, is now preserved 
by the Historical Society of Hartford, Conn., as a rare curiosity. 
" The family arms is registered at Bath, in Somersett, by Cla- 
renceux the 4th of King James 1st. They were conferred upon 
Henry Miner, by Edward 3d (beginning of the 14th century), for 
his loyal services to that monarch when passing through Somer- 
sett, to make war against the French." 

The Hon. Charles Miner, Vice-President of the Pennsylvania 
Historical Society, is a lineal descendant of this Henry Miner. In 
a recent letter, he speaks thus truly of my father: "Your father 
was a most extraordinary man — his walk in literature peculiar — 
his researches unique, and of great value, and the results like the 
Sibyline books, will every day become more and more valuable," 
&c. &c. 

NOTE B. 

Rev. Azel Backus, S. T. D., first President of Hamilton Col- 
lege, New York, was a man of such distinguished talents, exalted 
piety, and conspicuous position, that I deem a more extended 
notice of him will be acceptable, and not inappropriate, as he was 
the beloved cousin of my father, and possessed so many of the 
marked characteristics of the Fanning race. Few men have en- 
joyed warmer friendships than Dr. Backus. His character was 
formed on the best model of ingenuous frankness and noble feeling. 
And the deep and universal grief that was caused by his death, is 
perhaps the best eulogium that merit could have received, or 
affection offered. Rev. Dr. Chester, in his Biography of him, one 



66 APPENDIX. 

of the most affectionate and beautiful tributes ever offered to the 
memory of departed worth, says : " The man whom to know was 
to love — the preacher whom to hear was to admire — the Christian 
whom to see was to venerate, has gone ; and left a blank in the 
circle in which he moved, that nothing can supply — a star has set, 
never to rise in the hemisphere which it brightened ; and nothing 
is left but its track of glory, which will fade only in the conflagra- 
tion of the world." 

Dr. Backus was educated at Yale College, and his talents at an 
early age were of a conspicuous order. Whilst quite a lad, he 
read the Latin and Greek classics with uncommon accuracy, and 
great pleasure to himself, and retained in his translations of Homer, 
Horace, arid Yirgil, so much of the spirit of these fathers of 
poetry, that many gentlemen attended the examination of his class, 
for the pleasure of witnessing his singular attainments. 

" He had a genuine taste for Belles-Lettres, and had he pursued 
the study of them with vigor, would have been one of the most 
accomplished writers that our country has produced. His imagi- 
nation was sportive, and uncommonly chaste ; producing the 
sweetest combinations that tenderness ever forms, and exhibiting 
some of the boldest specimens of intellectual vigor and beauty, 
that genius ever displays. He stood in the first rank in his class, 
and received his degree with a reputation seldom attained at his 
age — those who predicted his future eminence were not disap- 
pointed." 

It is said that the Rev. Dr. Mason, on his return to New York 
from New England, was asked what he had seen in his travels; he 
replied "that he had found one man, Azel Backus, who had a 
bushel of brains " 

His mind sometimes formed the most happy and brilliant asso- 
ciations. Imagery in great variety decorated and illustrated all 
bis thoughts and expressions. His letters to his friends are spark- 
ling with genius and wit, the most tender sensibility and zealous 
patriotism — "portraits of himself, which none who knew him can 
fail to recognize." His correspondence with my father forms a 
large volume, and was prized by him with an almost sacred 
reverence. From one of these letters, now before me, I will make 
an extract, on account of its singular beauty and tender regard for 



APPENDIX. 67 

the home of bis childhood. After speaking of his brother, who 

"is settled at , and I hope will prosper, though a vellum of 

pedigree will not feed children in New England. Many who have 
coats of arms, through idleness and dissipation have no arms to 
their coats''^ — says: " My mother, I intend to visit soon, and hear 
the tales of ' other times,' and to call at the house and farm once 
my father's and mine, but now in other hands, as I exchanged it 
for an education in Yale College. I will see the hillock that 
covers the ashes of my father, and experience the pleasures and 
pains of memory I I have often spent half a day alone, in all the 
luxury of thought, at this ci-devant home in Franklin. Here stood 
the venerable trees under which I sported ; yonder bubbles the 
spring at which I drank, and there blooms the orchards in which 
I gambolled in all the glee of childhood. Yonder forest-topped 
hill is the place where, our negro told me, fairies, witches, and 
wizards resided. No remnant of the Druids could to me be more 
venerable. South is the mountain, beyond which my mother told 
me was the "West Indies, whither my father and uncle, John Fan- 
ning, had gone. A Musselman goes not with more reverence to 
Mecca, or a Catholic to Loretto, than I visit Franklin." 

There are many characteristic anecdotes of Dr. Backus, which 
show the peculiarities of his mind, his repartee and wit. Some 
such were recently published in Harper's Magazine, called, I think, 
"Recollections of the Sayings and Doings of the Rev. Azel 
Backus, D. D., by the People of New England." 

"If we judge of Dr. Backus," says his biographer, "by the 
number and respectability of his personal friends, we shall be 
obliged to draw conclusions highly honorable to him. He never 
lost a friend, and was in habits of intimacy with the greatest and 
best men in Connecticut (his native State). The late venerable 
Governor Wolcott was his early and constant friend. By him he 
was appointed to preach the Annual Election Sermon in n98. 
He was one of the youngest men that ever enjoyed this distin- 
guished honor, and he acquitted himself in a manner that would 
have done credit to the oldest divine that ever performed that ser- 
vice. The sermon preached on this occasion, in point of ingenuity 
and ability, ranks with the very best ever published in this country. 
It is the most finished piece of composition we have ever seen from 



68 APPENDIX. 

bis pen. It was twice republished in Europe. He also preached 
and published the funeral sermon of Gov. Wolcott, in 1799, and 
mingled his tears with those of the whole State, upon the sepul- 
chre of one of its wisest and best magistrates." 

"As a preacher, Dr. Backus was sound, original, and uncom- 
monly attractive — often his manner was fascinating. He seemed 
to accomplish every object of eloquence without exercising any 
rule of the art; and it was as impossible to criticize as to imitate 
him. His manner was his own, natural and affectionate; his heart 
flowed from his lips like water." "On one occasion, a time of 
unusual solemnity, during the session of the General Association 
in June, 1808, when it was resolved to meet in the church at 6 
o'clock in the morning, for the purpose of prayer and praise, the 
house was thronged, and after singing an animating hymn. Dr. 
Backus led in prayer. That meeting, or that prayer, no one pre- 
sent will ever forget ! The whole scene had taken the deepest hold 
upon his feelings and roused the whole fervor of his soul. There 
were many circumstances that united to heighten the interest which 
he felt. The church was erected on the spot where formerly stood 
a fort that had been captured by the Indians. Afterwards a church 
bad been built in which Gov, Saltonstall had ministered previous 
to his election as chief magistrate of the State. That church was 
afterwards burned, during the Revolutionary War, by Benedict 
Arnold. The pilgrim sufferers, the fathers of the Church and 
State, seemed to pass before him, praying, teaching, and bleeding. 
Here their supplications had ascended; here their tears had flowed; 
and here their blood had been spilled. Their lives had been sacri- 
ficed upon the spot where he stood in peace, and their groans had 
been heard where now the morning incense was rising. Upon 
such a mind, bright with intelligence; upon such a heart, melting 
with tenderness, the facts which the place recalled made impressions 
of the deepest interest. The contrast of the past with the present 
bad its full effect; he seemed to be inspired. Never was there a 
finer specimen of the eloquence of feeling and of tears; the whole 
assembly was moved. It is impossible to convey an adequate idea 
of the scene; those who were present will confess that the exhibi- 
tion of his talents and feelings on that occasion was proof of genius 
and power seldom equalled, and never exceeded;" 



APPENDIX. 69 

As we have said so much of the power and effect of the preach- 
ing of Dr. B., we cannot refrain from the mention of an event in 
his early life which had almost decided his divinity studies for a 
preparation for the army. "After terminating his collegiate course 
his choice of profession was for the ministry ; but he shrunk from 
it, under a sense of his unworthiness, because he thought that his 
natural cheerfulness would not yield to the gravity and the disci- 
pline which the station required. He knew himself too well to 
suppose that he could assume manners which his feelings did not 
dictate; and he was too unpractised and too frank to attempt it. 
He had no taste for other professions; and while balancing between 
his fears and his desires — while attempting to discriminate between 
duty and inclination, his mind became wrought up almost to frenzy, 
and he suddenly resolved to abandon all literary pursuits and enter 
the army. While actually preparing to accomplish his purpose, 
and the very night before he was to sail for a southern fort, his 
intentions were interrupted by the arrival of his uncle, Dr. Charles 
Backus, the learned divine, faithful minister, accomplished gentle- 
man, judicious, sincere, and valuable friend, and to his young ne- 
phew a guardian angel. More than once he had saved him from 
what might have been his ruin. The night was spent by the uncle 
and nephew upon the common, and the result of this providential 
interview was an entire change of purpose in the latter, and a 
resolution to commence the study of divinity, and to devote his 
life to the work of the ministry." 

In the midst of his career of honor and usefulness Dr. Backus 
was summoned to his eternal rest. He died on the 9th December, 
1817, in the 53d year of his age, within a few weeks of his two 
early and loved friends, the venerable Dr. Strong, of Hartford, and 
the learned and excellent President D wight, of Yale College. 
"In the death of such men society suffers; distinguished for learn- 
ing, patriotism, and piety, science and the commonwealth and reli- 
gion are bereaved." 

The corporation of Hamilton College have erected a monument 
to his memory, bearing on its two sides a Latin inscription, com- 
memorative of his distinguished talents, piety, and domestic virtues. 

Dr. Backus was the father of the late Hon. F. F. Backus, of 
Rochester, N. Y., and the former Mrs. Gerrit Smith. 



70 APPENDIX. 

I have extended this notice to a ranch greater length than I had 
intended, but there is so much about this great and good man like 
my own father — so much nobleness of heart and corresponding 
intellectual development, combined with the simplicity of a child — 
that I must make this my apology, if any is necessary. 

NOTE C. 

EXTRACT FROM "LAFAYETTE IN AMERICA." 

"As we were leaving Germantown, Mr. John F. Watson offered 
for the acceptance of the General a present of great value, on ac- 
count of the recollections it awakened. It was a box formed of 
many pieces of different kinds of wood, the origin and history of 
which he thus recited : — 

" ' The body of the box is made of a piece of black walnut, an 
ancient son of the forest, that once occupied the spot where Phila- 
delphia now stands. Contemporary with the trees which lent their 
shade to William Penn and his companions, it continued till 1818, 
spreading its noble branches in view of the Hall in which our 
Declaration of Independence was ratified. 

" ' The cover is composed of four different pieces. 

" ' The first is of a branch of a forest tree, the last surviving of 
those which were removed in order to dig the first foundations of 
Philadelphia. 

" ' The vigor that yet animates the vegetation of this ancient 
tree is an evidence of the rapid growth of the city, which has risen 
and become great whilst the tree is still flourishing. 

" ' The second is a piece of oak, broken off the first bridge, built 
in 1683, over the little river Canard. This piece was found in 
1823, at about six feet below the surface of the earth, 

" ' The third is a piece of the famous elm, under which Penn's 
first treaty with Shackamaxum was made. It fell from old age in 
1810, but a branch from it is now growing, and in a flourishing 
state, in the garden of the Hospital, and our fellow-citizens delight 
to recount the story of its origin whilst protected by its shade. 

" ' The fourth awakens recollections of yet more olden time. It 
is a fragment of the first house raised by European hands upon 
the American shores! It is a piece of mahogany of the habitation 



APPENDIX. 71 

constructed and occupied in 1496 by the immortal Columbus. 
Honor to the Haytien government, which still watches with care 
for the preservation of this precious monument. 

" ' I offer you these relics with confidence,' continued Mr. Wat- 
son, ' persuaded as I am that it is with interest you receive every- 
thing connected with the remembrance of the first movements of a 
nation that has received so many proofs of your friendship.' " 

General Lafayette was indeed highly flattered by Mr. Watson's 
present. He received it with gratitude, and a pledge that it should 
find a place amongst the most precious memorials of his tour. To 
this first present Mr. Watson added also another not less valuable, 
a piece of the American frigate "Alliance," in which Lafayette had 
twice crossed the ocean during the Revolutionary War. 

Note. — It was on the 20th of June, 1825, that Lafayette visited Germantown. 
After breakfasting with Benjamin Chew, Esq., at his historic mansion, and exa- 
mining the battle ground, he repaired to the residence of Keuben Haines, Esq., 
on whose lawn he received the salutations of many of the inhabitants of the town. 
It was on this occasion that Lafayette occupied the "Penn chair," and received 
the gifts above referred to. 



NOTE D. 

Arlington House, 20th Sept., 1825, 
near Alexandria, D. 0. 
Dear Sir: 

Your favor of the 13th came duly to hand, and for the kind ex- 
pressions you have been pleased to use towards me I thank you. 

So soon as I have completed a little work now publishing in a 
series of numbers, entitled "Conversations of Lafayette while in 
the United States in 1824-25," of which the thirteenth number has 
just appeared, I shall commence the Recollections of Washmgton, 
an interesting and momentous work to this and after generations. 
Coming from the adopted child of Mount Vernon, it may well be 
supposed that it will contain matters which could not be generally 
known, but which will be the more rare and instructive "on that 
account." 

I think of publishing the numbers in the United States Gazette 
of Philadelphia, not from any partiality to individual publishers, 
but because that was the paper which, in my juvenile days, I have 



72 APPENDIX. 

SO often seen the patriarch dry on his knee, which contained his 
ever memorable communications, his farewell address, and above 
all, which I believe was first edited by a Revolutionary officer, 
Fenno, of the artillery. If the editor was not the identical Fenno 
I have mentioned, he was, I am sure, the relative thereof. 

The first number, with the preface, will probably be sent to the 
Gazette in two or three weeks. It will be headed, "The Mother 
of Washington," a most remarkable woman, and worthy to be the 
matron of such a son. 

The series will be continued, and embrace all the queries you 
have been pleased to communicate, with anecdotes and details 
reaching- to the boyhood of the great chief, and ending with his 
translation to immortality. There will also be published his pater- 
nal letters to a most unworthy son, but whose filial veneration 
makes part, and the better part, of the soul of him who now ad- 
dresses you this epistle. 

The work will be dedicated "to the surviving heroes and patriots 
of the Revolution." 

Accept, sir, an assurance of the respect and esteem of him who 
has the honor to be 

Your ob't serv't, 

GEORGE W. P. CUSTIS. 
JOHN F. WATSON, Esq. 

NOTE E. 

Concerning this youth, the youngest brother of my grandmother, 
she could never speak without evincing the deepest emotion — tears 
always flowed. He was the idol of their household — a child "of 
bright and early promise," exquisite in face and person, and of 
most tender, affectionate heart. As a midshipman in command of 
the Tender, belonging to the Randolph, under command of Capt. 
Nicholas Riddle, he saw the fatal action, and brought his vessel 
safely into Charleston, S. C, received there his own and his bro- 
ther's prize money for their previous capture of a Jamaica fleet, 
and was about to return home, when it is supposed he was mur- 
dered by one of his men. The money, or murderer, was never 
discovered. 



PROCEEDINGS 



HISTORICAL SOCIETIES OF PENNSYLVANIA 
AND NEW YORK. 



HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 



HALL OF THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF PENNSYLVANIA, 
Philadelphia, January 16, 1861. 

Mr. JOHN H. WATSON, 

My Dear Sir: I am directed by The Historical Society of 
Pennsylvania to communicate to you the following resolutions, 
which were read and adopted at a meeting of the Society held on 
the 14th inst. 

Resolved, That the members of The Historical Society of Penn- 
sylvania have learned with deep regret of the decease of their late 
honored associate, Mr. John F. Watson, the annalist of Phila- 
delphia and New York. 

Resolved, That in his death our Society mourns the loss of one 
of its most distinguished members, the community a useful citizen, 
and the cause of historic inquiry a devoted student. 

Resolved, That his researches as an antiquary, and his la.bors as 
a local historian, in departments then wholly unstudied, entitle him 
to the lasting gratitude of the citizens of Pennsylvania and New 
York, and that his "Annals" will ever perpetuate his name and 
memory among those who value the records of the past. 

Resolved, That as a testimony of our estimation of Mr. Watson, 
and of his valuable contributions to our history, the Rev. Benja- 
min Dorr, be requested to prepare, and read before this Society, 
a Memoir of our late venerable fellow member. 

Resolved, That a copy of the foregoing resolutions be transmit- 
ted to Mr. Watson's family, with an expression of our sympathy 
in their bereavement. 



76 HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 

I scarcely need add anything to the foregoing, as they fully 
express my own feelings. The loss of such a distinguished mem- 
ber of society, and of one who was peerless in his original investi- 
gations, is a calamity that is felt by thousands who only knew him 
by name, and from his productions. 

Be good enough to communicate the proceedings of our Society 
to all the members of your late father's family. You have, as you 
well know, my individual condolence and sincere sympathy ; for he 
was not only my friend, but he had been, for many long years, my 
father's friend. 

With much regard, 

I am, yours very truly, 

HORATIO GATES JONES, 

Cor. Sec. Ilist. Soc. of Pa. 



The preceding resolutions were followed by these remarks, which 
we copy from the North American and United States Gazette. 

" Mr. Jones then spoke as follows: — 

"Mr. President: In performing this sad duty, I wish to add 
my tribute to the memory of one who has been intimately asso- 
ciated, for so long a period, with the history of Philadelphia and 
New York. 

" The year that has just closed has carried with it into the ocean 
of eternity a long list of distinguished men, eminent in every walk 
of life, and among them was our late respected associate. 

" This is not the proper time to give any extended notice of Mr. 
Watson, or of his labors as an annalist, for that duty, as one of 
the resolutions contemplates, will be performed at a future day; 
but the high regard I entertained for him, and the friendship 
which existed between us for more than twenty years, call for some 
expression of my esteem, even on this occasion. 

" Long before our Society was organized, Mr. Watson conceived 
the project of a history of early Philadelphia. He suggested this 
to a friend who made some preparations for the work, and it finally 
resulted in the volume by the late Dr. Mease, entitled 'A Picture 



HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 77 

of Philadelpliia.' This, however, did not meet the views of Mr. 
Watson, for he possessed a mind entirely sui generis, and specially 
qualified for antiquarian research. 

" He thereupon prepared on his own plan a few pages of such a 
history, for his own gratification, and submitted it to some personal 
friends. Their approving criticisms led him to further research 
and investigation, and at length his collections assumed the form 
and name of 'The Annals of Philadelphia and Pennsylvania,' a 
work replete with the most varied information, minute and curious 
facts, and interesting details, giving to us, in plain, unvarnished 
style, a faithful portraiture of our country and its early settlers. 

" Mr. Watson was a man of great singleness of purpose and 
purity of heart. He was the true type of an antiquary, and thought, 
studied, and wrote as one. He pursued his investigations from 
pure love for his subject, and not for fame. Yet, when his annals 
first appeared, he was at once pronounced 'the Homer of his 
class.' In a letter written as long since as 1845, Mr. Watson 
said, ' It is something to be an antiquary, if it were only for the 
love it generates among the brotherhood — all so wholly purged 
from selfishness, and all so cordial and in unity of object and taste.' 
This was most beautifully exemplified in the readiness with which 
he imparted information to others. His collections, so extensive 
and valuable, were open to all, and his house was the frequent 
resort of those who were engaged in kindred pursuits. 

" 'We ne'er shall see his like again,' for there are none among 
us now who possess the same peculiar train of thought, the same 
inquiring mind, or equal love for the dusty records of the past. 
His works, as he himself admitted, have their peculiarities and 
imperfections, but they were written amid the pressure of daily 
official duties, and were published without revision. Such as they 
are, they will ever be regarded as monuments of his wonderful 
assiduity and laborious research. 

"But, sir, I must close, and in doing so, I will merely add that 
the memory of John F. Watson will long be cherished by the 
members of this Society, and his name will never be forgotten by 
the citizens of Philadelphia and New York." 



HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF KEW YORK. 



From the Historical Magazine. 

EEMARKS OF MR. LOSSING BEFORE THE NEW YORK 
HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

" Mr. Lossing then announced the death of Mr. John Fanning 
Watson, of Germantownj an honorary member of this Society. 
' Mr. Watson,' he said, ' had lived to the age of eighty years, 
with his mental and bodily powers almost untouched by decay, 
until within a few weeks of his death, which occurred on the 23d 
of December last. During a long life, he was temperate in all 
things ; and he consequently enjoyed the exquisite pleasures of a 
healthy old age. 

" 'Mr. Watson was one of those useful men who work lovingly 
for the good of the world, without coveting, and oftentimes with- 
out receiving its thanks or its applause. He was pure in his 
thoughts, and unselfish in his ways; and he devoted many years 
of his valuable life to the investigation and illustration of the local 
history and social life of the two leading cities of the land (out of 
pure love for the pursuit, and an earnest desire to preserve what, 
otherwise, might be lost), for the good of his fellow-men. 

'"He was an enthusiastic delver in the mines where antiquarian 
treasures are to be found, but he never hoarded his earnings with 
a miser's meanness. Every gem which he gathered from the dark 
recesses, was laid, in all its attractiveness, upon his open palm, in 
the bright sunlight, a free gift to the first applicant who would 
promise to wear it generously, where its beauty might gratify the 



HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF NEW YORK. 79 

world. Yet he was not a blind enthusiast, ready to worship a 
torso, because it is a torso, but an intelligent co-worker in gather- 
ing into permanent receptacles such perfections and fragments of 
the past as might be valuable in the future. Nor was his life 
devoted to that pursuit alone. He was always engaged in the 
practical duties of business, and made his antiquarian labors his 
recreation. 

"'In social life, and in the domestic circle, Mr. Watson was 
kind, genial, considerate, generous and simple.'" 

NEW YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

At a stated meeting of the Society, held at its Hall, on Tuesday 
evening, February 5, 1861, Mr. Benson J. Lossing, after some 
remarks, submitted the following resolutions, which were adopted 
unanimously : — 

Resolved, That we, the members of the New York Historical 
Society, have received with profound regret, intelligence of the 
death of our esteemed countryman and fellow-member, the vene- 
rable John Fanning Watson, of Germantown, Pennsylvania ; and 
that we offer to his family expressions of our most sincere sym- 
pathy in their bereavement. 

Resolved, That in the death of Mr. Watson, we recognize a 
public bereavement of no ordinary kind, for his whole life was an 
example of manifest usefulness, worthy of general imitation. 

Resolved, That we hold in high esteem the labors of our departed 
friend, in the field of local history ; and that we cherish his memory 
as one of the intelligent antiquarians of the world whose unselfish- 
ness has made them benefactors, and whose careful savings of 
"unconsidered trifles" have added largely to the treasury of know- 
ledge. 

Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions shall be presented to 
the family of the deceased, in testimony of our sympathy with the 
living, and our esteem for the dead. 

Extract from the minutes. 

ANDREW WARNER, 

Recording Secretary. 



80 HISTOEICAL SOCIETY OF NEW YORK. 



LETTER FROM BENSON J. LOSSING, ESQ., 

THE DISTINGUISHED HISTORIAN AND BIOGRAPHER. 

PouGHKEEPSiE, N. Y., Feb. 12, 1861. 

My Dear Madam : — 

I took great pleasure in offering some resolutions concerning 
your dear father, to the consideration of the New York Historical 
Society, on Tuesday of last week. I introduced them with brief 
remarks ; and one of our leading members (Mr. George Folsom) 
moved that I be requested to furnish a copy of the remarks, to be 
placed with the resolutions, in the archives of the Society. These, 
and the resolutions, will be published in the Historical Magazine 
for March. 

It would have greatly gratified you, dear Madam, to have heard 
the expression of friendship and veneration for your dear father, 
by the leading men of the Society, in conversation after the ad- 
journment. 

I announced to the Society the gratifying fact that Dr. Dorr 
would read a memoir of him before the Pennsylvania Historical 
Society. I wait with impatience to see it and peruse it. In the 
next edition of my " Eminent Americans,'''' I shall introduce a 
brief memoir of him, with a portrait. 

I presume your brother has received from Colonel Warner, 
our Recording Secretary, a copy of the Resolutions which were 
directed to be sent to your family. 

I have lost another dear old friend during the last week. Dr. 
John W. Francis, who had the greatest respect for your father. 
I have often heard him speak of the value of his Annals of New 
York, many facts of which Dr. Francis' own observation confirmed. 
He was buried in Greenwood Cemetery on Sunday afternoon. * * 
Your very sincere friend, 

BENSON J. LOSSING. 
MRS. LAVINIA F. WHITMAN. 



NOTICES OF THE PRESS. 



NOTICES OF THE PRESS/ 



From the Home Journal, Jan. 12, 1861. 



WATSON, THE HISTORIAN. 



The death of the venerable and distinguished author, John F. 
Watson, who died at Germantown, Pennsylvania, on the 23d of 
December, being eighty-one years of age, is a public loss to the 
country. He was the pioneer in antiquarian research — the father 
of local historians — the " Homer of his class," as Washington Ir- 
ving styled him ; indeed, he labored hard to rescue from oblivion 
the habits, customs, and events of other days, and we regret that 
his work was not better rewarded in a pecuniary way. As far as 
honor and compliments went, Mr. Watson was not without his 
share, and in London, recently, an autograph of his sold for a large 
price. His "Annals of Philadelphia" possesses a great charm to 
all who take an interest in the early history of that place, while 
his "History of New York" is equally appreciated by our citizens. 
Apart from his published works, Mr. Watson had made many 
valuable contributions to local history, which, with a number of 
pictures and relics relating to revolutionary times, have been placed 
in the Historical Library of Philadelphia. Besides historical 
works, he left some unpublished manuscript volumes on Theology, 
which subject he for many years made the study of his serious 
hours; indeed, a better theologian than was our honored friend 
cannot, perhaps, be anywhere found. He also devoted pages to 

* We have only space for a few notices from the Press j many of the others 
were much of a repetition of the same. 



84 NOTICES OF THE PRESS. 

the vindication of Cromwell, connected with some interesting 
foreign correspondence. His wife was a lineal descendant of the 
Loi'd Protector, which fact will account for the interest evinced 
by these writings. These manuscripts, with others on various 
subjects, all marked, however, with great originality and genius, 
will probably be embodied in a memoir, now preparing by the 
Rev. Dr. Dorr, of Christ Church, Philadelphia, and which will be 
delivered before the Historical Society of that city. Mr. Watson 
was an intimate friend of Benson J. Lossing, who will, no doubt, 
prepare a suitable and touching memorial to his memory, Mr. 
Watson possessed a heart full of tenderness and amiability. Life 
possessed many attractions for him ; but when the summons came 
for his departure, with an entire resignation to God's will, and like 
the patriarch of old, he was, full of years and honors, prepared 
and willing to go. We "ne'er shall look upon his like again." 

From the United States Journal. 
DEATH OF JOHN F. WATSON. 

It is with the most painful emotions that we record the death 
of Mr. John F. Watson, the distinguished annalist, so well and 
universally known as the accomplished and talented author of 
" Watson's Annals of Philadelphia and Pennsylvania;" for he was, 
in the fullest sense of the term, our friend. 

Our acquaintance with the gifted and honored deceased com- 
menced as far back as 1828, and during the long period that has 
intervened from that time down to the present, the most cordial 
and uninterrupted friendship has existed mutually between us. 
He was the friend of our youth, in some respects our mentor, and 
largely contributed with his fluent and powerful pen — over the 
signatures of " Scrutator," "Bereanus," &c. — papers of surpassing 
interest and value to the columns of literary, scientific, historical, 
and ecclesiastical serials, over which we, in our younger years, 
presided. 

The last special token of his friendship and fraternal regards, in 
a literary point of view, was presented in the gift of a set of his 
invaluable "Annals," with the following characteristic superscrip- 



NOTICES OF THE PKESS. 85 

tion on a blank leaf of the first volume: "Presented by the au- 
thor, John F. Watson, to his friend, Z. Fnller, 1856." 

"Kemembrance, faithful to her guarded trust, 
Traces upon the heart the faded times of old familiar scenes. 
Instructed in the Antiquary times, 
He tells their tale." 

John F. Watson was no common man. He was an ornament 
to society, a faithful friend, and a pattern of all that is excellent 
and praiseworthy among men. It may be truly said, a pillar has 
fallen. In his death the public have lost a most estimable citizen. 
We deeply sympathize with his bereaved family. 

Mr. Watson died at his residence, in Germantown, on Sunday 
evening, December 23d, after a short illness. He was in the 
eighty-first year of his age. 

The deceased was born at Batsto, Burlington County, New Jer- 
sey. Early in life he made his home in the county of Philadelphia. 
For a few years he was a bookseller and publisher upon Chestnut 
Street. When the Bank of Germantown went into operation, Mr. 
Watson was chosen as its Cashier, and he held the position for 
many years. He subsequently became Treasurer and Secretary of 
the Philadelphia, Germantown, and Norristown Railroad Com- 
pany, and he retained those responsible ofiRces until advancing 
years and failing health induced him to resign them. 

Mr. Watson is best known as a local historian. His " Annals of 
Philadelphia" possess a great charm to all who take an interest in 
the early history of the city and State. The work has passed 
through several editions; the latest and most complete and elegant 
having been published within a short time. He was also the au- 
thor of a i' History of New York City," which was gotten up in a 
style similar to his "Annals of Philadelphia." 

Apart from his published works, Mr. Watson has made some 
valuable contributions to local history. A number of manuscript 
works, pictures, and other relics relating to the revolutionary strug- 
gle, and to the early history of the city, have been placed in the 
Philadelphia Library, and Mr. Ferdinand L. Dreer, of this city, 
has recently purchased from Mr. Watson a large number of manu- 
scripts relating to the same subject. 

The deceased was the father of the school of local historians 



86 NOTICES OF THE PEESS. 

who have done so mnch within the last half century to rescue from 
oblivion the early history of Philadelphia. The intelligence of his 
death will cause a general feeling of regret. 

Mr. Watson has left five children to deplore their loss, three 
daughters and two sons ; of the former, Mrs. Harrison Whitman, 
the accomplished lady to whom was committed the pleasing duty, 
some years since, of christening the sloop of war Germautown, at 
her launch, is one. 

Honor to his memory. Requiescat en pace. 

From the Evening Bulletin. 
DEATH OF MR. WATSON, THE ANNALIST. 

We regret to announce the death of Mr. John V. Watson, so 
well known as the author of "Watson's Annals of Philadelphia." 
Mr. Watson died at his residence, at Germantown, last night, after 
a short illness. He was in the eighty-first year of his age. The 
deceased was born at Batsto, Burlington County, Xew Jersey. 
Early in life he made his home in the county of Philadelphia. For 
a few years he was a bookseller upon Chestnut Street. When the 
Bank of Germantown went into operation Mr. Watson was chosen 
as its Cashier, and he held the position for many years. He sub- 
sequently became Treasurer and Secretary of the Philadelphia, 
Germantown, and Xorristown Railroad Company, and he retained 
those responsible offices until advancing years and failing health 
induced him to resign them. 

Mr Watson is best known as a local historian. His "Annals of 
Philadelphia" possess a great charm to all who take an interest 
in the early history of the city and State. The work has passed 
through several editions, the latest and most complete and elegant 
having been published within a short time. He was also the au- 
thor of a " History of New York City," which was got up in a 
style similar to his "Annals of Philadelphia." 

Apart from his published works, Mr. Watson has made some 
valuable contributions to local history. A number of manuscript 
works, pictures, and other relics relating to the revolutionary strug- 
gle, and to the early history of the city, have been placed in the 



NOTICES OF THE PEESS. 87 

Philadelphia Library, and Mr. Ferdinand L. Dreer, of this city, 
has recently purchased from Mr. Watson a large nunaber of manu- 
scripts relating to the same sul)ject. 

The deceased was the father of the school of local historians 
who have done so much within the last half century to rescue from 
oblivion the early history of Philadelphia. The intelligence of 
his death will cause a general feeling of regret. 



From the Manayunk Star. 
DEATH OF JOHN F. WATSON, THE ANNALIST. 

We regret to announce the death of John F. Watson, of Ger- 
mantown. He departed this life on Sunday, the 23d instant, after 
an illness of about two weeks, in the eighty-first year of his age. 
His funeral took place on Wednesday, the 26th, at 3 o'clock P. M. 
His remains were taken to St. Luke's Church, and interred in the 
burial-ground adjoining. The burial service was read by the Rev. 
Mr. Rodney, the rector, aided by the Rev. Mr. Morris, his assist- 
ant, and the Rev. Dr. Dorr, of Christ Church, Philadelphia. 

Mr. Watson had long occupied a prominent position before the 
public, and as the author of "Watson's Annals of Philadelphia," 
he enjoyed a popularity both far and near. He was born at Bat- 
sto, Burlington County, N. J., and in early life settled in Philadel- 
phia, being engaged at one time in mercantile pursuits. He was 
also employed under Government as a translator. At an early age 
he exhibited a fondness for observing and noting "men and things," 
and this taste was fostered by his forming one of a party that went 
down the Ohio River from Pittsburg in 1803 or 4. The voyage 
was made, if we remember correctly, in a sloop, the first that had 
ever passed down the river. During this trip he kept a journal of 
what occurred, and ever afterwards, when he visited a new place 
or made a journey, he kept a diary of passing events. 

When the Bank of Germantown was organized in 1814, he was 
elected its first Cashier, and occupied the same position until 1847, 
a period of thirty-three years, when he resigned, and was soon 
afterwards chosen Secretary and Treasurer of the Philadelphia, 
Germantown, and Xorristown Railroad Company. Failing health 



88 NOTICES OF THE PRESS. 

led him to resign this post in 1859, since which be has resided 
either at Germantown or in Philadelphia. 

It was while he was cashier of the bank that he collected, com- 
piled, and wrote his "Annals of Philadelphia," a work that will 
long be prized by all who wish to know how our early settlers lived 
and what progress has been made by their descendants; a work, 
too, that will hand down to succeeding generations the name of its 
venerable author. Mr. Watson also wrote "Annals of Olden Time 
in New York," and was, at the time of his death, about to issue a 
new edition of the latter work. 

As a public officer Mr. Watson ever bore a high reputation for 
correctness, probity, and assiduity. In his private and social rela- 
tions he was most highly esteemed by those who knew him well, 
and he was always happy to impart information from his vast and 
varied stores of facts to those who sought it. As a husband he 
was devoted, and as a father he was most tenderly beloved. 

He has lived to a good old age, enjoyed the honors of this world 
for many years, and when on his dying bed, he felt that to him 
death had no terrors, for in years gone by he had put faith in Jesus 
Christ. He had been for many years a communicant of the Epis- 
copal Church, but he was no sectarian, and frequently worshipped 
with other Christians. 

The death of such an one causes a feeling of sadness, for there 
were few like him, and now that he has gone away from us, we feel 
his loss all the more keenly. But though dead he speaketh, and 
he will continue to speak to future generations of Pennsylvania, as 
long as the "Annals" are read. 



